Can economic development live happily with the protection of the environment? The Clean Production Unit at UCC believes it can.
The unit was the brainchild of Prof Philip O'Kane, head of the department of civil and environmental engineering at the college, who saw the need for a multidisciplinary approach to environmental issues. He brought together academics with expertise in various areas. Their aim was to draw up ambitious environmental management programmes for firms in the manufacturing and service sectors. Today the unit, under its director, Ms Aveen Henry, approaches its work in the belief that industrial development and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive.
"We must get away from the idea of seeing them as opposites," Ms Henry says. The unit has developed a software information package called CAEMIS - computer-aided environmental management information system - and is involved in 15 projects, five of which have received EU backing. Two of the projects are being conducted for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EU Commission has developed a technology transfer programme through its Directorate General - DG-13 - which seeks to support the design and running of environmental management systems.
Under the project, UCC has benefited with funding of £200,000 and is part of a transnational partnership involving institutions in Spain, Austria and Denmark. It has contributed to the project by customising systems for the dairy processing sector. An international standard for environmental management systems, known as ISO-1400, has also been put in place.
Ms Henry says: "We are encouraging industries to adopt a systematic approach to environmental management and with this aim in mind, we have designed systems for firms, enabling them to gain ISO-1400 accreditation. Companies are now subjected to peer pressure to gain such accreditation. "In Ireland, the requirement for firms to secure an EPA integrated pollution licence has also provided an important initiative for firms to introduce up to date environmental management regimes. The software being made available by UCC helps such firms to design these systems, integrating them into the production management process as a whole rather than hiving them off into a separate area. "Effectively, the systems are computer-based and user-friendly. The new approach means that instead of having to deal with volumes of paper work, corporate or other users are able to access vital information at the push of a button. It also means that the systems can be updated quickly and efficiently to cater for changing circumstances," Ms Henry says, adding that the need for meaningful environmental protection systems was just as great in the services sector.
For this reason, the UCC unit is also working on the development of systems that could be applied to hotels and guesthouses. The Clean Production Unit also works with companies involved in pigmeat and venison production, electronics assembly and tourism.
The unit also has a stark message for all sectors of industry. "The days when firms, governments or societies could embark on ambitious wealth-creation schemes without regard to the consequences for the wider natural world are now past, whether the people in industry like it or not. The work of the unit would appear, however, to serve as an important model for those who believe that development and protection of the environment are complementary, not contradictory, goals," Ms Henry said.