The basic significance of Cp is quite simple: increase production efficiency while at the same time eliminate or at least minimize wastes and emissions at their source rather than treat them after they have been generated.

How will CP help?

CP will help a company in several ways:

• It will make an industry more competitive and profitable.
• It will reduce your operational costs.
• You will start making money from effluents and waste.

What benefits accrue from investing in CP?

Cp is the only way for industries to survive and remain competitive in the emerging global scenario. Apart from reducing your manufacturers costs, and thus improving your profitability, CP offers several other benefits such as product quality improvement; easier penetration of environmental conscious markets, improvements in the work environment, better image of the company, and easier compliance with the regulatory regime.

How much does it cost to implement CP measures?

From nil to any amount. Simple measures like good house keeping and better process control often require little or no investment. These are pre-dominantly governed by a change of attitude and culture. However, measures like equipment modification and technology change may require some financial investments. However, the interesting point to note is that most of the CP measures have very short pay-back periods, quite often just a few months. Adoption of CP is the surest way of enabling a company to cut down on its costs of production so as to remain competitive. The Kenya National Cleaner Production is spearheading this in Kenya.

PARALLEL APPROACHES.

 Green Productivity:

It encompasses cleaner production to achieve sustainable consumption and production.

Eco-Efficiency:

Delivery of competitively priced good and services that satisfy human needs and ensure quality of life while reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life cycle in line with the earth’s estimated carrying capacity.

Waste Minimization:

Reducing waste on-site through changes of input raw materials, and / or technology changes, good operating practices and product changes.

Pollution Prevention:

Reducing pollution and environmental impacts at source.

ALLIED APPROACHES.

Energy Efficiency:

The concept of energy and renewable energy often has strong elements of cleaner production.

Occupational Health and Safety.

Efforts to protect the health and safety of workers will require reducing emissions at source, by changing raw materials or modifying the process, this will result in better productivity.

PRODUCT RELATED APPROACH.

 Design for the Environment (DFE)

This is the systematic consideration, during product design, of issues associated with the environment over the entire life cycle of the product. This approach attempts to create financial and environmental savings by redesigning products to reduce environmental impacts. DFE is also called eco-design.