PRODUCT INNOVATION AND ECO-EFFICIENCY

Transcription

1 PRODUCT INNOVATION AND ECO-EFFICIENCY

2 Eco-efficiency and Industry Volume 1

3 Product Innovation and Eco-efficiency Twenty-three Industry Efforts to reach the Factor 4 Edited by: JUDITH E.M. KLOSTERMANN 1 and ARNOLD TUKKER 1 With support of: JACQUELINE M. CRAMER}, ADRIE VAN DAM2 and BERNHARD L. VAN DER VEN 3 ITNO Centre for Strategy, Technology and Policy, P.O. Box 541, 7300 AM Apeldoorn, the Netherlands 2TNO Institute of Industrial Technology, P.O. Box 5073, 2600 GB Delft, the Netherlands 3TNO Institute of Environmental Sciences, Energy Research and Process Innovation, P.O. Box 342,7300 AH Apeldoorn, the Netherlands... " SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.

4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Printed on acid-free paper All rights reserved 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1998 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the copyright owners.

5 Contents Preface Acknowledgements vii ix Part I: Product Innovation and Eco-efficiency in theory J. M CramerandA. Tukker (TNO-STB) Introduction Issues: driving factors Instruments: the toolbox for product innovation and eco-efficiency Industries: sector-specific developments The challenge Part II: Cases Part 11.1: Issues: driving factors 6 The reduction of waste in metal machining J. Bongardt, WESTAB 35 7 Smart cements J. GM. de Jong, PA. Lanser and W van der Loo, ENCI 41 8 Coextruded pipe: an ideal product for recycled PVC pipes and fittings R.L.J. Pots and P Benjamin, Polva Pipelife 51 9 Future energy services L. Groeneveld, EPON Novel protein foods EJ. C. Paardekooper and J. Bol, TN 0 Institute for Food and Nutrition 67 Part 11.2: Instruments: the toolbox for Product Innovation and Eco-efficiency 11 Disassembly analysis of consumer products WA. Knight, Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc LCA of the utilization processes of spent sulphuric acid H Brunn, R. Bretz, P Fankhauser (Ciba Geigy), Th. Spengler and 0. Rentz (French and German Institute for Environmental Research, University of Karlsruhe) 95 v

6 vi 13 Environmental analysis of wooden furniture G R.L. Kamps, Lundia Industries Application of LeA in environmental management in Statoil L. Sund, Statoil The environmental improvement process at Unilever C Dutilh, Unilever Nederland Using LeA in environmental decision-making B. desmet, Procter & Gamble LeA as a decision-support tool for product optimization H Brunn (Ciba Geigy) and O. Rentz (French and German Institute for Environmental Research, University of Karlsruhe) Possibilities for sustainable development in the chemical industry T. Dokter, Akzo Nobel Towards eco-efficiency with LeA's prevention principle: an epistemological foundation of LeA using axioms R Heijungs, Centre of Environmental Science Leiden Product innovation and public involvement R A. P. M Weterings, TNO-STB 187 Part 11.3: Industries: sector-specific developments 21 Experiences with the application of secondary materials in the building and construction industry J. Stuip, Centre for Civil Engineering Research and Codes (CUR) Ecodesign for building materials and building construction GP.L. Verlinti, Unidek Beheer B. V 'Apparetour': national pilot project collection and reprocessing of white and brown goods J.J.A. Ploos van Amstel, Ploos van Amstel Consulting Ecodesign at Bang & Olufsen R Nedermark, Bang & Olufsen Eco-efficiency and sustainability at Philips Sound & Vision A.L.N. Stevels, Philips Use of recycled PET for soft drink bottles M Knowles, Coca Cola Greater Europe Optimizing packaging: fitness for purpose, together with ecological and economic aspects, must be part of the equation D.H Biirkle, Elf Atochem Paper packaging designed for recycling G Jonson, Lund University 273 List of contributors 283 Index 291

7 Preface Our predecessor organization, the Business Council for Sustainable Development, provided formal input to the Rio Earth Summit by its report Changing Course in Rio emphasized that sustainable development is a shared challenge and responsibility: shared by government, business, the international organizations, NGOs and others. During the summit, world leaders for the first time fully acknowledged the importance of the business community in the development process. The effect on the world's business leaders was dramatic. They had long been wary of such political events. But Rio demonstrated that their views were not only needed, but wanted. Since then, a real paradigm shift has occurred. Instead of being identified as part of the problem, business is now increasingly seen as a vital part of the solution. As a result, business finds itself at the heart of the sustainable development debate. But how should business cope with this challenge? The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) firmly believes that the most viable approach is to work towards shaping events, rather than responding to them. The way forward for business lies in its skills in balancing the economic, environmental and social imperatives shared with the world around. The WBCSD supports this approach where possible: by producing policy reports and managerial guidelines, bringing together a large number of like-minded companies, pooling their ideas, and providing a focus for their effort in the sustainable development field. It is therefore a pleasure to see this book on Product Innovation and Ecoefficiency, reflecting the very same spirit the WBCSD stands for. It is particularly encouraging that most of the book has been written by representatives of industry, not only of larger, international operating firms, but also of small- and mediumsized enterprises. Taking their practical situation as a starting point, they tell how they deal with the challenge: what the motivators are, which tools can be used and how they can be implemented, and what the specific elements are for sectors like building, electronics and packaging. I therefore see this book as a new confirmation that a broad section of the business community is willing to work out practical approaches to cope with the challenge posed by sustainable development - and is able to do so in a creative and innovative way. The book concludes that eco-efficiency and product innovation are two sides of the same coin. I agree. Once eco-efficiency is recognized as an opportunity, this opens up a whole range of possible strategies through which a company can enhance its competitive position on the market. The adoption of such strategies requires a continuous improvement of products through product vii

8 viii innovation. Business can, and is willing to provide, creative, leading-edge ideas and proposals to the policy debate. I hope the creativity that the authors of this book show in their contributions will inspire others to adopt the same approach. Bjorn Stigson President World Business Council for Sustainable Development

9 Acknowledgements This book has a long history. And long histories inevitably result in the situation that numerous people have, on one or more occasions, made contributions to an effort like this. It started with the idea to organize a conference on 'Product Innovation and Eco-efficiency', that would be set up as a platform for an industry-toindustry exchange of ideas about this subject. This initiative got full support of TNO's Board of Management and three TNO divisions: the TNO Institute of Industrial Technology, the TNO Institute of Environmental Sciences, Energy Research and Process Innovation (TNO-MEP) and the TNO Centre for Strategy, Technology and Policy (TNO-STB). Most of the practical work was done by a team consisting of A. van Dam (TNO Industry), G. Timmers (TNO Industry), B. van der Yen (TNO-MEP), 1M. Cramer (TNO-STB), 1E.M. Klostermann (TNO STB) and A. Tukker (TNO-STB). This book could not have been written without the patient work of our many contributors, who on the basis of our suggestions carefully worked out their conference papers into chapters that would fit in a more formal publication. We thank them for their efforts and apologize for the fact that preparation of this book took longer than we hoped at the start of the process. In the period that we combined and completed this material to a full manuscript support was given by several other people from inside and outside TNO. We would like to thank two of them, specifically: Joanne Erkelens, our ever-available secretary at TNO-STB, did a marvellous job in handling the logistics concerning the papers for this book; and the fact that Theo Logtenberg's TNO Centre for Waste Research allocated some funds for the book saved us from the obligation of doing all the editorial work in our spare time. The subtitle of our book clearly reflects the inspiring statements of E. U. von Weiszacker, A. B. Lovins and L. H. Lovins in their recent message to the Club of Rome, which basically pleads for a Factor 4 reduction of the resource intensity of our economy. We hope the ideas and examples in this book may contribute in their own way towards reaching this important and necessary goal. ix