ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PRODUCTS A preliminary assessment of the status of this sector in South A

1
ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PRODUCTSA
preliminary assessment of the status of this
sector in South Africa

• 29 May 2000
• Marcel Mitchelson

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Introduction

• CSIR and DTI project funded by UNCTAD
• Scope of article
• Definition of EPPs with a South African context
• Identify criteria for qualifying as an EPP
• Assess and review trends in EPPs in specific
  market sectors

3
Introduction

• Identify a preliminary list of EPPs and conduct a
  case study on one EPP
• Accomplished through a review of literature
• International literature
• Internet sources
• CSIR Information Centre

4
Definition of EPPs

• Environmentally preferable products (EPPs) are
  defined as products which cause significantly
  less environmental harm at some stage of their
  life cycle (production/processing, consumption,
  waste disposal) than alternative products that
  serve the same purpose, or products the
  production and sales of which contribute
  significantly to the preservation of the
  environment. UNCTAD, 1995

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Definition of EPPs

• Products include
• manufactured products
• agricultural commodities
• forest products
• tourism (service)
• Also includes technologies and processes that
  have lower environmental and human health impacts

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Definition of EPPs

• Sustainable development is the final goal of the
  production and use of EPPs - impacts of a product
  or service should be assessed on
• environmental grounds
• social grounds
• Article is focussed on environmental issues

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Definition of EPPs

• Markets created for the use of environmentally
  preferable products in developed countries
• Certain products (agricultural products) from
  developing countries are preferable due to their
  lower environmental impacts
• Export from developing countries
• benefits of foreign exchange generation/savings
• employment and income generation
• environmental protection and improvements

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Definition of EPPs for SA

• No deviations from the international definition
  are expected UNCTAD definition is suitable.
• Products referred to as environmentally friendly
  products in comparison to other products when
  they exhibit reduced or limited environmental
  impacts.

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Definition of EPPs for SA

• The life cycle assessment approach is relatively
  new in South Africa
• complete life cycle of the product or service not
  yet considered.
• specific stages of the life cycle are considered
  
• use of the product (eg. reduced electricity
  usage)
• manufacturing stage (eg. limited use of
  resources).

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Criteria for EPPs

• Lower environmental impacts of EPPs and their
  contribution to environmental preservation are
  generally related to one of the following areas
• the use of natural resources and energy
• the amount of waste generated along the life
  cycle
• impacts on human and/or animal health
• the preservation of the environment

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Criteria for EPPs - LCA

• LCA approach is used for determining, or
  verifying, the environmental friendliness of a
  product or service
• Environmental impacts are determined for the
  different phases of the product (raw materials
  acquisition, production/processing, packaging,
  use, product disposal, re-use or recycling).

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Criteria for EPPs - LCA

• LCA of a product can be used to
• identify environmental advantages of a product
• provide evidence which helps to protect a product
  against negative claims
• identify environmentally harmful phases in a
  products life cycle.
• A complete, or partial, life cycle assessment of
  a product is needed to determine or verify if a
  product is environmentally preferable.

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Criteria for EPPs - Labeling

• The LCA approach or the compliance with specific
  standards is manifested through product
  labelling.
• Various types of environmental labels and
  certification programmes have been developed
• eg. International Federation of Organic
  Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) certification
  programme for the organic agriculture sector -
  guidelines for environmental performance and
  social rights of workers

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Trends in market sectors

• Trend in environmental awareness continues to
  increase in developed countries, therefore
  markets for environmentally preferable products,
  services, technologies and process will continue
  to grow.
• This growth will soon become evident in
  developing countries as environmental awareness
  increases there as well.

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Trends in market sectors

• Awareness in environmental issues and
  environmental impacts of products is increasing
  in South Africa mainly in middle and upper
  social classes
• Due to newly introduced environmental legislation
  and policies and, to a limited extent, general
  public awareness

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Trends in market sectors

• Environmental legislation and policies
• legislation has focussed on integrated waste
  management including waste minimisation, re-use,
  recycling, etc.
• not directly related to EPPs, but manufacturers
  forced to focus on products that use lesser
  resources and produce less waste thereby being
  more environmentally friendly and acceptable.

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Trends in market sectors

• Public awareness
• public awareness is increasing mainly due to the
  increasing availability of information on
  environmental impacts and issues
• not directly related to EPPs, but it is expected
  that markets for EPPs will benefit.

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Trends in market sectors

• Chemical processing sector
• Already experiencing pressures from legislation,
  customers (local and international) and local
  communities to reduce their environmental
  impacts.
• companies forced to produce products and
  technologies that are more environmentally
  friendly and are seen to be environmentally
  preferable.

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Trends in market sectors

• Chemical processing sector
• International and some local customers are
  stipulating that companies adopt an environmental
  management system such as ISO 14 001, continuous
  improvement of environmental performance

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Trends in market sectors

• Farming/agricultural sector
• global growth in organic grown agricultural
  products is approximately 20 per year -
  significant opportunities to the local
  agricultural sector in producing organic grown
  agricultural products

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Trends in market sectors

• Farming/agricultural sector
• organic products are grown, processed and
  packaged without using synthetic chemicals, and
  in a manner that does not harm the environment
• products are preferable because they are not
  genetically modified, and consumer trends in
  Europe are moving away from genetically modified
  crops

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Trends in market sectors

• Farming/agricultural sector
• organic production fetch prices between 20 and
  30 more than non-organic production prices
• some farmers have indicated that the figure is
  closer to 10 more suggesting that importers and
  retailers make the bigger profits and the
  developing world farmers have to compete through
  lowering prices and reducing profits

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Organic agricultural products
• Developed-world markets have created great
  demands for organically grown agriculture. South
  African farmers have acknowledged these demands
  and are converting to organic farming.
• Eg. vegetables, sugar cane

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Wind-up radio and other appliances
• People-powered appliance
• Wind-up radios do not use electricity or
  batteries therefore they are categorised as EPPs
  reduced use of resources and reduced waste
• Other applications computers, cellular phones,
  GPS power-packs, etc.

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Environmentally friendly wine production
• Implementation of the Integrated Production of
  Wine (IPW) programme
• Environmentally scheme that differed from other
  systems
• Includes all processes soil preparation to
  production processes and packaging materials (LCA
  approach)

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Domestic wastewater treatment
• The Bardenpho process
• Developed by CSIR and Dr James Barnard
• Removal of nitrates and phosphates from
  wastewater
• Conventional systems - removal of nitrates only
• EPP due to environmental preservation

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Bio-leaching technology
• Billitons bio-leaching technology for copper
  BioCOP
• Traditional approach of using furnaces and
  smelters large SO2 emissions
• BioCOP process - ore treated in an
  environmentally friendly way using
  micro-organisms

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Microwave technology for recycling acrylic sheets
• Using microwave technology to recycle acrylic
  sheets (polymethyl methacrylate) effectively
• End of environmentally unpopular method of
  acrylic recovery using the molten metal bath -
  not energy efficient and generates effluent that
  requires treatment incurring additional costs.

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Microwave technology for recycling acrylic sheets
• The microwave technology is
• energy efficient
• no caustic wash stage - effluent treatment not
  required
• Technology is still in developmental stages
• Environmentally preferable option for the global
  acrylic recovery industry.

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Environmentally preferable automotive manifold
• Environmentally preferable automotive inlet
  manifold developed by Centre of Automotive
  Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch
• Applications in China - compliance with stringent
  emissions requirements

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Preliminary list of EPPs in SA

• Environmentally preferable automotive manifold
• Inlet manifold - series of pipes through which
  the engine breathes air
• If designed correctly, enhances engine
  performance
• Older technology cars engine adopted to use
  electronic fuel injection with a catalytic
  converter - reduces emissions by about 90

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SA case study Wind-up radio

• Clockwork-driven radio invented by Trevor Baylis
  to improve communications, and help aid workers
  in Africa.
• Rights to produce and market the radio acquired
  by two SA based executives - formed the BayGen
  Power Group
• Employing only disabled workers at its plant, the
  BayGen Power Group produced 40 000 radios a month
  in 1998

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SA case study Wind-up radio

• Radio has a clockwork mechanism that stores
  energy and can deliver electricity on demand
• Spring generator, activated by a wind-up device,
  generates the power, removing the need for solar
  power, batteries or mains electricity - generator
  provides a 3V output at 50 mA.
• Subsequent models of the radio include
  supplementary energy sources - solar power and
  batteries

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SA case study Wind-up radio

• Originally designed for use in areas where there
  was no mains electricity or where batteries were
  unavailable or extremely expensive
• Radio enhances communications in developing
  countries for health care, education, community
  liaison, etc.
• Use by international humanitarian organisations,
  including UNICEF, the Red Cross, Royal Institute
  for the Blind, etc.

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SA case study Wind-up radio

• However, largest markets are USA and Europe where
  it is considered environmentally preferable
  because it does not use batteries or mains
  electricity.
• Seen to be preserving the environment by using
  limited resources (electricity), and producing
  less waste (batteries) through its life cycle

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SA case study Wind-up radio

• Sales of the radio surged to 50m (1999) -
  attributed to first world survivalists, who
  latched onto the wind-up concept while preparing
  for the chaos they expected with the arrival of
  the new millennium.
• Radio struck a cord in the outdoor and adventure
  fraternity

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SA case study Wind-up radio

• USA industrial giant General Electric acquired
  30 stake in BayGens holding company for approx
  3.5m
• BayGen has access to GEs corporate RD
  facilities can realise other opportunities -
  toys, computer notebooks, even mobile telephones,
  etc.

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SA case study Wind-up radio

• Even though the wind-up radio was developed for
  developing countries needs, largest market is the
  developed world due to environmental preference
• Due to the cost of the radio approx. 35 per
  unit - relatively expensive for consumers in the
  developing world, however affordable in developed
  countries

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Conclusions

• Preliminary list of SA EPPs presented
  agricultural products, manufactured products and
  locally developed technologies
• May present a distorted picture of EPPs in SA -
  recommended that a process be undertaken to
  compile a more complete list of South African
  EPPs.

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Conclusions

• Wind-up radios case study - developed to satisfy
  a specific market need in developing countries.
• Ironically, developed country consumers are using
  the radio due to environmental attributes

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References

• List of references presented in article