Brussels, 27 February – A new report produced for the European Commission has identified that European industry could benefit to the tune of €604billion through greater measures to cut waste and reduce water and material consumption.
Brussels, 27 February – A new report produced for the European Commission has identified that European industry could benefit to the tune of €604billion through greater measures to cut waste and reduce water and material consumption.
The report focused on three industrial sectors – food and drink manufacturing, metal product fabricators, and hospitality and food service firms – and found that if all resource efficiency opportunities were realised then turnover could be increased by 10-17%. Return-on-investment time varied dramatically, depending on the measures implemented, meaning that industries need to be fully aware of possibilities and potentials of their investments.
A 100% uptake of measures would lead to a potential annual benefit of €996billion, but taking account of up-front costs, a return of €604billion was calculated. This figure does not include savings that could be made from synergetic energy efficiency measures.
Similar evidence of resource efficient savings potential was found in the REMake project, which produced eco-innovation support tools and tested a two-stage voucher system to encourage uptake of efficiency measures in manufacturing SMEs.
Click to read the full report by AMEC Environment & Infrastructure and Bio Intelligence Service, or the report summary.
See also, the REMake ‘Guide to resource efficiency in manufacturing’