Environmental challenges and opportunities for European manufacturing SMEs
Date
2010-09-01Author
Mitchell, Sinéad
O'Dowd, Paul
Dimache, Aurora
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Mitchell, Sinéad, O'Dowd, Paul, & Dimache, Aurora. (2010). Environmental challenges and opportunities for European manufacturing SMEs Paper presented at the International Manufacturing Conference 27, Galway, Ireland, 01- 03 September.
Abstract
Many owner/managers of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) do not believe that their
business operations have a negative impact on the environment. However, cumulatively their
effect is considerable; the SME sector is responsible for an estimated 60-70% of pollution related
to manufacturing, and 70% of industrial waste production in Europe.
This study reports on research carried out by the FutureSME project, a Framework 7
programme sponsored by the European Union. The study was carried out on 11 manufacturingrelated SMEs from Italy, Ireland, Turkey, Czech Republic and the UK. The aim of the survey
was to gain an overview into their environmental practices, to determine what challenges they
faced and to see whether they considered there were opportunities in the environmental area.
Following the initial survey, interviews took place with two of the SMEs.
The findings indicated that the SMEs surveyed viewed legislation, large customers and
competitors as the main drivers of environmental change. Energy and waste are considered the
most important issues. The majority of the SMEs measured some cost-related environmental
indicators. However, most did not use tools and techniques to measure the entire life cycle
impact of their products. None of the SMEs viewed environmental change exclusively as a major
threat to their business. The majority of the SMEs could see opportunities related to
environmental issues, such as the design of new products and greener manufacturing processes.
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