New paths to competitive advantage
New requirements all along the chain
TripleNine Fish Protein produces fishmeal and fish oil at two factories in the coastal towns of Esbjerg and Thyborøn. The enterprise has experienced at first hand how environmental work has changed markedly over the past 20 years.
Like other fish processing factories, the enterprise had considerable odour problems, which posed a nuisance to neighbours. Thus it was a very specific problem that had to be solved at that time.Today, in contrast, interest more concerns the enterprise's overall impact on the environment.
No point in waiting
"Customers increasingly enquire about environmental aspects today. For example, we have customers who want to be sure that the fish derive from sustainable fishery because they are to use our products as feed in freshwater fish farms. We thus participate at the beginning of a chain that ends with the consumers in the supermarkets," says Vice Director Nils Christian Jensen.
In August 2002, Denmark was among the three countries in the EU that had the most EMAS registered enterprises per inhabitant. Source: Danish EPA. |
TripleNine has been preparing green accounts for several years and is now certified under
ISO 14001 and registered under the EMAS scheme. There are several reasons why the
enterprise took these steps.
"One thing that played a role is the external pressure from the authorities, who impose requirements on an industry like ours. The environmental work means that we can save money because we save on resources and ancillary substances. Moreover, when we are EMAS-registered, we are subject to less supervision by the authorities. Economically, there is no doubt that the environmental work yields a net benefit," says Nils Christian Jensen.
"At the same time, the environmental work sends a signal to the market. We already note an increasing interest from customers, and if the market really demands environmental consideration in three years time, we would be in a poor position if we had not even started," concludes Nils Christian Jensen.
TripleNine Fish Protein a.m.b.a., Esbjerg and Thyborøn, 250 employees.
