It can be said that lean is green.  A lean organisation understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The core idea is to maximise customer value while minimising waste.   Lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources. The ultimate goal is to provide perfect value to the customer...

An innovative new circular shopping system designed to drastically cut packaging waste from consumer goods has launched as a pilot in France. The scheme, involving leading French retailer Carrefour, will enable customers to buy everyday products in durable packaging that can be cleaned, collected, refilled and reused. The circular shopping system is led by recycling...

The amount of single-use plastics in oceans and seas has been growing at an alarming rate.  The European Commission has proposed new EU-wide rules to target the 10 plastic products most often found on Europe’s beaches and seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gear. Together these constitute 70% of all marine litter items. The...

You may have heard that China no longer accepts low value plastics and has left the western world with a significant disposal/recycling conundrum.   We have all heard about Circular Economy.  You may have an idea of how you could use the circular economy to improve the performance of your business whilst playing a significant role...

The European Commission adopted the worlds first comprehensive Plastics Strategy In January 2018.  In May 2018 The European Commission proposed new laws to tackle the 10 most found plastic waste items on Europe’s beaches as well as fishing gear.  The Single Use Plastics Directive is an integral part of the wider approach announced in the Plastics...

The first Europe-wide strategy on plastic waste, was adopted today, is a part of the transition towards a more circular economy.  It will protect the environment from plastic pollution whilst fostering growth and innovation, turning a challenge into a positive agenda for the Future of Europe. There is a strong business case for transforming the way products are...

The Environmental Protections agency (EPA) has launched the National Waste Statistics web resource and has also published information on hazardous waste for 2015 and 2016 and municipal waste for 2014.  The new web resource replaces the EPA’s biennial National Waste Report as the primary source of waste statistics in Ireland.  The EPA will regularly update National Waste Statistics,...

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a technique used to quantify the potential environmental impacts associated with a product or service throughout its life cycle.   Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are tools which enable transparent communication to stakeholders.  LCA and EPD present comparable information about the environmental impact of of products and...

GreenStart and GreenPlus funding is available to clients of Enterprise Ireland and Industrial Development Authority.  The funding programmes are available to enable businesses to improve their performance using environmental management to either save costs, increase value or grow sales. An environmental management structure can help your company achieve competitive advantage through greater resource efficiency (energy/water/waste/wastewater) and...

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a technique used to quantify the potential environmental impacts associated with a product or service throughout its life cycle.   Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are tools which enable transparent communication to stakeholders.  LCA and EPD present comparable information about the environmental impact of of products and...