1. Silvia Lamela—slamela@um.edu.uy
CLEANER PRODUCTION AS STRATEGY TO REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND IMPROVE COMPETITIVENESS IN URUGUAYAN COMPANIES
 Silvia
UNIVERSIDAD DE MONTEVIDEO, CENTRO DE PRODUCCIÓN MÁS LIMPIA, Av. Luis P. Ponce 1307, MONTEVIDEO-URUGUAY - September 2018
INTRODUCTION
Cleaner Production (CP) is the continuous application of an integrated, preventive environmental strategy towards processes, products and services in order to increase overall efficiency and reduce damage and risks for humans and the environment
The achieved results of the implementation in Uruguay of training programs in Cleaner Production, carried out by the Centro de Producción más Limpia-Uruguay of the Universidad de Montevideo’s Engineering School are presented below.
Since 2005 the Centro de Producción más Limpia-Uruguay supports companies that want to improve their competitiveness through the application of preventive environmental strategies
CP acts in the source of waste generation in a preventive manner, seeking to identify alternatives to avoid or minimize its generation throughout the production process, in all relevant environmental aspects.
By acting in a preventive way, CP is not only an enviromental strategy, but also a strategy for the reduction of costs and improvement of the business competitivity. In each identified opportunity in the process, the consumption of raw material and energy is optimized, and, as a consequence, the non- generation of waste, increases the productivity and brings economic benefits for the companies.
METHODOLOGY
The strategy adopted by the Centro de Producción más Limpia-Uruguay to make the companies and professionals embrace the CP is training of technicians related to the productive processes and the companies´ management. Through training programs based on the concept of “learning by doing”, the technicians not only receive theoretical concepts, but they also apply the knowledge simultaneously and implement the CP strategy in the companies. In this way, a long-term commitment with the proposal is achieved.
RESULTS
PARTICIPATING COMPANIES
(+ 5 THAT REPEATED PROGRAMS) 62
TECHINICIANS IN CP PROGRAMS
198
IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
DESIGNED
171
AVERAGE INVESTMENT
USD
EXPECTED AVERAGE ANNUAL SAVINGS
USD
COMPANY BELONGS TO SECTOR:
NUMBER OF COMPANIES
Food 15
Tanneries 9
Chemicals 6
Plastics 5
Metallurgical
Logistics 4
Printing 3
Raw Wool washing
Construction and related branches
Pharmaceuticals laboratories 2
Others 7
Enviromental benefits
Total annual
reduction
Decrease in the consumption of raw material and supplies
2.524 ton/year
Decrease of water consumption
m3/year
Decrease in the consumption of energy (all the energetics expressed in MWh)
MWh/year
Reduction in the generation of solid waste
4.362 ton/year
Reduction of sewage water
m3/year