Title: Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency in Australian small firms

Authors: Rene Van Berkel

Addresses: Eco-Innovation, P.O. Box 523, Inglewood WA 6932, Australia

Abstract: This paper reviews the Cleaner Production (CP) and Eco-Efficiency (EE) initiatives from 30 Australian small firms that participated in government-funded programs. The review focuses on the type of opportunities implemented, their technical complexity and business significance, and motivators for their identification and implementation. Even though the results are only illustrative, they clearly show the diversity of solutions, which is testimony to the fact that CP and EE are business improvement strategies rather then fixed sets of technical solutions that can easily be replicated by other businesses. Moreover, the comparative analysis reveals that the business decision to implement CP or EE is a result of a complex interplay of environmental and business considerations.

Keywords: waste minimisation; pollution prevention; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; Australia; clean production; eco-efficiency; business improvement; improvement strategies; environmental management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2007.015636

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2007 Vol.7 No.5/6, pp.672 - 693

Published online: 06 Nov 2007 *

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