Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Project implementation and results

Low-cost cleaner production measures were immediately implemented and adopt- ed, with over 90 per cent of the recommendations now in place, resulting in a reduction of water use by 7 per cent.
The implementation of EMA in the treatment plants identified a number of processing steps with the potential to generate savings if operated differently. Af- ter implementation of the changes, a reduction of energy consumption of 25 per cent was achieved.
Recommendations by regional and national experts in the textile industry re- sulted in the replacement of a number of dyeing agents by less potent ones and this resulted in a better efficiency of the treatment plants which, ultimately, was reflected in the lower concentration of residual salts in the final release to the river.

3. Project sustainability

During the last field visit in December 2011, as for the chicken plant, the sus- tained utilization of the various management tools was observed. The improved economic performance generated by the introduction of the various recommenda- tions meant that the site managers were now fully supportive of the methodology.
As the quality of the effluent had improved, testing is currently under way to assess the use of the treatment plants’ effluents as irrigation water for the biofuel

crops grown by the companies as feed for their steam generation boilers. This would totally eliminate the releases to the river and reduce the costs related to pumping irrigation water.

4. Conclusions

Although there sometimes is initial resistance towards the project, the considerable water and economic savings rapidly achieved through the implementation of the TEST methodology means that the changes brought about are sustainable.

In each participating company, a TEST team is now operational and fully ca- pacitated in the methodology. This reinforces the sustainability and ensures that further improvements will be adopted after each EMA exercise. Moreover, before the introduction of each tool, a large number of the companies’ staff was trained in the new management method. This ensured full understanding and acceptance of the changes proposed. Therefore, although the core TEST team in each company is relatively small, in fact, most of the staff at these sites have benefited from training in cleaner production, water efficiency, environmental management systems and corporate social responsibility. These workshops were led by experts in their areas.
The main project results include the following:

• 
  Industries have implemented over 90 per cent of cleaner production recommen- dations
  
• 
  7.5 per cent global reduction in water consumption in the three companies through implementation of cleaner production measures, consequently increas- ing water availability for the riverside communities
  
• 
  20 per cent reduction in energy consumption of the treatment plants of the tex- tile companies
  
• 
  Reduction of 50 per cent of total salt concentration in the effluents to within
  

permissible levels

• 
  Significant reduction of the microbiological contaminants released by the three
  

industries, improving river water quality

• 
  Reduction of 55 per cent of biochemical oxygen demand at the chicken-process- ing plant
  
• 
  Treated wastewater reused in irrigation of biomass crops by the two textile com- panies
  
• 
  The three companies have invested a total of US$130,000 on water treatment
  

improvements

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  Reported financial savings amount to US$90,000 annually for the three compa- nies
  

• 
  Implemented improvements transferred to another poultry processing compa- ny in Tegucigalpa
  
• 
  Capacity-building:
  
  • 
    Workshops to train consultants, company experts and local and central gov- ernment officials:
    
    • 
      One EMA training workshop held in San Pedro Sula, with more than 25 specialists trained
      
    • 
      Three TEST concept trainings carried out in La Ceiba, Santa Rosa de Copán and Tegucigalpa. More than 50 experts trained
      
  • 
    More than 2,200 employees from all three companies trained in sustainable water use, with an impact in at least 25 neighbouring communities (where the staff live)
    

The programme successfully demonstrated to the companies involved that using environmentally sound technologies has a positive effect not only on the envi- ronment but also on economic performance. As a result, one of the companies recently began TEST implementation in another one of its processing plants with positive results.
Given that this methodology has already been successfully implemented in Eastern Europe, parts of Asia, the Mediterranean coast and now Central America, the potential for replication is very high. However, it is to be noted that the TEST methodology works best in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because the managers are most often also the owners of the company and their interest is, therefore, not only economic but also philanthropic.