VITO PRESS RELEASE
APRIL 24, 2008
Regularisation for Sustainable Production Methods, not just for Chemicals European Commission ready to launch successor of REACH
At the official opening session of i-SUP2008 yesterday, Kurt Vandenberghe, Cabinet of EU Commissioner of Science and Research, Janes Potoĉnik, gave a preview of the upcoming European regularization of sustainable production processes. The Commission wishes to continue the trend set with REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals). Within REACH only the end products are evaluated and not the production processes preceding. Now the Commission proceeds with regulating the entire production process in all sectors, whereby processes and installations in the member states minimal values are to be obtained concerning eco-efficiency, energy savings, emission of CO2 as well as pollutants like particulate matter etc. Next, these minimal values will be regularly increased until the complete production process is sustainable.
Mr. Vandenberghe is very confident about the goodwill of China regarding environmental issues. At this moment, a large delegation of the EU Commission (including president Barrosso) is visiting China, invited by the Chinese authorities, about Europe’s approach of climate change.
i-SUP2008: Innovation for Sustainable Production
This announcement was made at the opening ceremony of i-SUP2008, an international conference on innovation in sustainable production processes. VITO initiated this conference together with important Flemish companies (Umicore, Janssen Pharmaceutica) and federations (essencia) as well as OVAM (Public Waste Agency of Flanders), Royal Flemish Society of Engineers, Dell etc. This first edition of i-SUP counted 510 participants, mostly from Europe, but also USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan and South-Africa. VITO is planning on organizing i-SUP again in 2010. In his speech at the opening session, Dirk Fransaer (general manager of VITO) had expressed his vision on the future of production processes. After the current emphasis on ‘innovation’ he expects a shift towards ‘integration’, whereby an integrated vision on the production process will form in order to bring it closer to a sustainable product vision. Finally we’ll come to really sustainable processes, in Mr. Fransaer’s vision best realized by a REAP-methodology (REgistration and Acceptance of Production methods), cf. REACH. Mr. Fransaer planned this to happen by the year 2025. Now it appears that the European Commission wants to make regulations about sustainable production as soon as next month. You can also find more information on:
http://www.euractiv.com/en/sustainability/ambitious-eu-eco-standards-making/article-171504.
Dirk Fransaer
Marc Van Sande (Umicore), Jan Liessens (Janssen Pharmaceutica),
Kurt Vandenberghe (EU Commissie Wetenschappen), Bruno De Keyzer
Walking dinner
For more information, please contact:
Kristine Verheyden
VITO
External Communication Manager
Mobile + 32 472 250 262
