Indonesian Conference Promotes Win-Win Solutions to Pollution Problems

JAKARTA, September 10, 1997--Industry representatives at the second Indonesian Pollution Prevention Roundtable learned how they can increase their profits and be more environmentally friendly by using cleaner production processes to prevent pollution.

Cleaner production is being strongly promoted by the Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Trade and BAPEDAL (Indonesian Environmental Impact Management Agency). Top officials from these agencies presented the government's vision for Indonesia's industries to become more efficient, competitive, and produce less pollution.

Speakers from the pulp and paper, bottled water, mining, and diversified manufacturing industries shared their real-world cleaner production success stories and gave advice to their peers. Smaller breakout sessions allowed for more detailed discussions to clarify the issues-- what "cleaner production" means in practice, why it is in industries' interest to adopt it, and how it can be promoted throughout the country.

BAPEDAL stressed that cleaner production is not another government program that will be a burden to industry. Instead, it is an approach that the government is encouraging companies to explore in order to increase profits. It is a win-win solution because it also reduces industries' negative impact on the environment.

Several speakers from the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) spoke about their experience in promoting cleaner production in the United States and creating the NPPR organization 12 years ago.

The United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP) is supporting NPPR's efforts to facilitate the formation of pollution prevention roundtables in eight Asian countries in the hopes of creating a global network of roundtables. The Indonesian roundtable was the first to be formed in Asia.

The Indonesian roundtable conference, "Efficient Production Through Pollution Prevention," spans a whole week-- September 8-13.

Three site visits were held Monday to the Golden Mississippi Group (manufacturer of Aqua bottled water), Jakarta Islam Hospital, and P.T. Indah Kiat paper mill, which is the first company in the country to obtain ISO 14000 certification.

Training sessions were held Thursday and Saturday to teach how to conduct a cleaner production assessment and how to use the Internet to access data on cleaner technologies and production processes.

Conference participants included representatives from five stakeholder groups: government, industry, consultants, NGOs, and academia.

Efforts to form the Indonesian Roundtable began more than a year ago through assistance from the Indonesian Cleaner Industrial Production (ICIP) program. Both ICIP and US-AEP are funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

The first Indonesian Roundtable, held in January, was attended by more than 200 people and generated a great deal of interest. In April, ten of the key participants attended NPPR's Spring Conference in Denver, Colorado, through the assistance of US-AEP. Plans are underway for several roundtable members to attend the First Asia-Pacific Cleaner Production Roundtable in Bangkok, Thailand, November 12-14.

For more information, please contact Lisa Lumbao in the Philipppines (63-2) 750-7086 or Kevin McDonald in Washington (202) 466-7272.