• Indonesian P2 conference promotes win-win solutions.
• Seminar introduces Sri Lankan companies to ISO14000 benefits.
• Experts convene to discuss livestock waste management.
• Singapore exchange focuses on packaging and chemical industries.
• MD firm to exhibit pollution treatment technologies in Bangladesh.
• September 15-21 is "National P2 Week"

Indonesian P2 conference promotes win-win solutions.

Industry representatives at the second Indonesian Roundtable conference held in Jakarta, September 9-10, learned how they can increase their profits and be more environmentally friendly through cleaner production/pollution prevention. Top officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and BAPEDAL (Indonesian Environmental Impact Management Agency) presented the government's vision for Indonesia's industries to adopt cleaner production. In support, industry representatives from Indonesian and American firms shared their cleaner production success stories and gave advice to their peers. US-AEP supported the attendance of representatives from the U.S. National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) and the State of California who spoke about their experience in promoting cleaner production in the U.S. and creating the NPPR organization 12 years ago. The two-day conference was preceded by site visits--Golden Mississippi Group (bottled water), P.T. Indah Kiat (paper mill), Jakarta Islam Hospital--and a training session for journalists. Following the conference, two US-AEP sponsored specialists conducted training on accessing cleaner production data on the Internet. Efforts to form the Indonesian Roundtable began more than a year ago through assistance from USAID-funded Indonesia Cleaner Industrial Production (ICIP) program.

Seminar introduces Sri Lankan companies to ISO14000 benefits.

US-AEP/Sri Lanka and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) jointly held an ISO 14000 awareness seminar in Colombo, August 12, to introduce local companies to the benefits of adopting environmental management systems. More than 150 industry representatives attended the seminar, which was sponsored by Development Finance Corporation of Ceylon, USAID/Colombo's Technology Initiative of the Private Sector (TIPS), and Agro Enterprise Project. Sri Lanka's Minister of Forestry and Environment, Nandamithra Ekanayake, gave the keynote address. The seminar was conducted by James Highlands, president of Management Systems Analysis, Inc., whose participation was arranged by the Institute of International Education through US-AEP's Environmental Exchange Program. Following the seminar, US-AEP/Sri Lanka arranged for 21 companies to meet one-on-one with Highlands. Plans are underway to form an ISO 14000 association later this year to train local consultants and to assist Sri Lankan companies in obtaining certification.

Experts convene to discuss livestock waste management.

Under US-AEP's agroindustry initiative, livestock waste experts from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and U.S. universities-North Carolina State, Iowa State, Oregon State, Purdue, Hawaii, and Illinois Institute of Technology-and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) met at the University of Hawaii September 8-12 to discuss the state of swine waste management. The week-long seminar began with a public symposium opened by the dean of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Charles Laughlin, and the president of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPU), Shan-Da Liu. Key speakers included Dr. Liang-Chou Hsia, NPU; Barry L. Kintzer, USDA; Dr. Kim Hyoung Ho of the National Livestock Research Institute; Soledad F. Agbayani of the Philippine Association of Hog Raisers, Inc. and the Philippine Swine Research and Development Foundation; Dr. Lim Yoke Sin of Malaysia's Department of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture; Warren Kam-Wah Wong of Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department; and Dr. Chongrak Polprasert of the School of Environment, Resources and Development at the Asian Institute of Technology. The symposium set the stage for further discussions among the participants to develop an Environmental Center for Livestock Waste Management. This "center for excellence," to be based at National Pingtung University in southern Taiwan, will showcase state-of-the-art U.S. technologies through demonstration sites and workshops. This seminar was made possible through the coordinated efforts of US-AEP's Environmental Exchange Program, managed by the Institute of International Education, the University of Hawaii, and USDA.

Singapore exchange focuses on packaging and chemical industries.

A US-AEP Environmental Business Exchange enabled Heinrich Jessen--executive vice chairman and director of Environment, Health and Safety at Jebsen and Jessen Ltd.--to travel to the United States to meet with his EH&S counterparts in the expandable polystyrene packaging industry, the molded pulp packaging industry, and the chemical storage and distribution industry. Jessen said the exchange exceeded his goals, which included: identifying areas for improvement in his company's EH&S policy; learning about possible courses to improve his workforce's environmental management skills; seeing how U.S. packaging companies use clean technology to decrease water use; and learning how responsible care in the chemical industry applies to medium-scale chemical warehousers and distributors. Jessen's exchange included site visits to cutting edge environmentally responsible chemical and packaging companies--Tilley Chemical (Baltimore, MD), Tuscarora Packaging (Pittsburgh, PA), Tenneco Packaging (Chicago, IL)--as well as the Society of the Plastics Industry, Chemical Manufacturers Association, and Center for Hazardous Materials Research. Jessen concluded his exchange by attending the National Plastic Exposition in Chicago. The Environmental Exchange Program is implemented by the Institute of International Education.

MD firm to exhibit pollution treatment technologies in Bangladesh.

Tetrahedron, sponsored by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, was awarded a US-AEP Environmental Technology Fund grant to conduct technical seminars in Bangladesh to demonstrate the company's expertise in pollution prevention by equipment modification, control and abatement of industrial pollution, and equipment design and construction for pollution treatment. More specifically, the seminars will focus on: Tetrahedron's microbial technology to treat contaminated water; air scrubbing technology to treat air contaminated with organic and inorganic compounds, which is applicable to the chemical, tanning, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries; and environmental impact studies conducted before the implementation of potentially damaging natural resources recovery projects in the energy industry. US-AEP's Environmental Technology Fund is administered by the National Association of State Development Agencies.

September 15-21 is "National P2 Week".