What is Cleaner Production?

Cleaner Production (CP) is a preventive, integrated strategy that is applied to the entire production cycle to:

  • increase productivity by ensuring a more efficient use of raw materials, energy & water
  • promote better environmental performance through reduction at source of waste & emissions
  • reduce the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle by the design of environmentally friendly but cost-effective products.

What does CP mean in practice?

For production processes, CP includes:

  • More efficient use of raw materials, water and energy
  • Elimination of toxic or dangerous process input materials
  • Minimizing the volume and toxicity of all emissions and waste

For products, CP focuses on:

  • Reducing impacts through the products’ life cycle
  • Adapting design, raw material input, manufacturing, use, and disposal

For services, CP implies:

Preventive environmental strategy in the design and delivery of services.
The net effect is for your enterprise to become more competitive, thereby facilitating your access to (inter)nat. markets.