Vitebsk region joined the international program on resource-efficient and clean production

Vitebsk region has become a participant in the UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) demonstration program on resource-efficient and cleaner production.

The Resource-Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) program is operational in 55 developing countries and countries with economies in transition. In Belarus, it began to be implemented in 2014, and organizations from Minsk and the Minsk region are already involved in the project. In Vitebsk region, the first enterprise to join was Vitella, with which a cooperation agreement was signed more than a month ago. Also, as part of the expansion of the region's interaction with the coordinators and experts of the RECP program, with the active assistance of the Vitebsk Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, a seminar "Efficient Enterprises – Clean Environment – Green Economy" was organized, which was attended by over 30 representatives of the food, construction, and chemical industries of the region.

As the national project coordinator Sergey Dorozhko explained, the main goal of the program is to avoid environmental pollution by reducing the use of resources and raw materials as much as possible. To achieve this, a higher percentage of raw materials must be converted into products, not waste. Experts – specialists in resource consumption and environmental protection, trained according to the international UNIDO methodology of Cleaner Production/Resource Efficiency (CP/RE) – analyze production processes, equipment efficiency, and identify the most energy- and resource-intensive processes. Based on the results of the technical and environmental assessment, they propose a set of measures that will not only minimize environmental impact but also reduce costs. Practice shows that even a single measure implemented after an audit can allow a manufacturer to save up to two thousand euros. Assistance is also provided in implementing the recommended options for improving resource efficiency and cleaner production, and in finding financing for them. Sergey Vladimirovich also emphasized that the program is demonstrative – this means that experts in their activities will not be able to cover all enterprises in Belarus, so one of the tasks facing the project coordinators is to disseminate the methodology, to teach employees and specialists of organizations to see possible imperfections in the production process, because with appropriate training, a team of ecologists, technologists, and economists will be able to independently identify losses and find ways to reduce them.

At the recent seminar, experts Irina Pekur and Dmitry Konik informed enterprise representatives about the main components of resource-efficient and cleaner production: rational use and selection of material sources, water, energy, minimization and safe disposal of waste, wastewater, and emissions. Positive results can be achieved through good housekeeping, adjustment of incoming material flows, their secondary use, improved production control, modification of equipment and the technological process itself, manufacturing of useful by-products, and changes in the manufactured product.

Following the presentation, forum participants, through an engaged dialogue, discussed possible ways to improve the economic results and environmental performance of enterprises in the Vitebsk region.

Natalia Kamleva, "Vitebskiye vesti".