Renere teknologi og miljøledelse i træ- og møbelbranchen

6. Project article

Cleaner technology and environmental management in the wood and furniture industry

New instrument for the furniture industry

"Practical use of cleaner technology and environmental management in the wood and furniture industry" is an instrument for the wood and furniture industry that is to facilitate the implementation of cleaner technology and environmental management in the companies. In a reduced form the instrument is called the collection of action lists and has been developed by:

Danish Technological Institute, Department of Wood and Furniture

COWI Consulting Engineers and Planners AS

Technology Centre MTC

in cooperation with and financed by the Danish Council of Recycling and Less Polluting Technology.

The idea of the collection of action lists emerged on the basis of a demand for practical data about cleaner technology from the members of Herning Snedkerlaug ( Joiners’guild in Herning). The members wanted an increased transparency in respect of cleaner technology and environmental management.

The purpose of the projekt

Subsequently, the purpose of the project is:

• to collect existing results in respect of cleaner technology in the wood and furniture industry
• to prepare practical and handy action lists with concrete examples of cleaner technology. The examples include credible references.
• to test the action lists in the nine companies that have engaged themselves to approach the material.
• to spread the use of existing cleaner technologies in the industry based on experiences with the nine companies via networks in the industry and the prepared action lists.
• to communicate successful affairs, for example, about ressource savings, increased competitiveness and increased involvement of the staff.

The process of collecting the existing knowledge was initiated by
visiting the nine participating companies to determine their levels
of work in respect of cleaner technology and environmental
management. Subsequently, a list of possible actions for the
industry was made and the subjects were devided into a total of
seven main categories:

1. Wood working/process technology
2. Energy savings
3. Surface treatment
4. Material optimization
5. Waste management
6. Green products/ life cycle
7. Environmental management

Results

From the beginning, the companies of the industry and the steering group have been very concentrated on the fact that the prepared lists should not be a repetition of the traditional reports on cleaner technology and environmental management. Therefore, the collection of action lists consists of 37 specific projects concerning cleaner technology or environmental management, carried through in companies in the wood and furniture industry. When consulting the list you can find how to handle "UV- coating – roll coating" , "glueing of padding" , "deflagration of resolvent vapour" , "edgings" , "staining" – just to mention a few of the subjects.

For each of the subjects you can find information on "Pay-back", the specific supplier and company plus relevant literature on the subject. Furthermore, you can find information on energy, working environment, quality, refuse, investment and additional remarks.

Make the work easier

The companies participating in the project emphasize that the lists facilitate both the manager’s and the employees’ opportunities to work with environment and working environment in the company. Furthermore, the lists assist the management in starting the work with cleaner technology and environmental management. In the conclusion of a poll it says that the companies of the industry have been very satisfied with the information in the collection of action lists. According to the companies and the participating industry representatives, there is extensive satisfaction with the structure of the collection of action lists.

A couple of quotations from the report underline the satisfaction of the companies:

• " The collection of action lists has a good and clear structure", M.P Låger.
• " It is very important that it is a dynamic tool", Kilsgaard Døre A/S.
• " It is essentiel that it has detailed financial information", Invita køkkener A/S.
• " A good way to promote ideas", Sunds Møbelfabrik A/S.
• " Very interesting and informative material/tool", Compo Tech A/S.

Communication and future work

The communication stage of the project has shown that great interest is to be found both among producers, suppliers, authorities and at educational establishments. There have been inquiries for a subscription arrangement. Furthermore, foreign countries have shown interest in the collection of action lists. The project has developed a model suitable for communication of knowledge regarding cleaner technology and environmental management, and the steering group as well as the work group conclude that it is also suitable for current updating, maintenance and supplementing.