When you stay at the Novotel Hotel in Kacyiru, you might find the notice in your room a bit strange at first. It reads something like: if you want your towel or bed sheets cleaned, leave them on the floor; if not, leave them on the bed.

“After all, how many people change their towels and bed sheets at home every day?” asks James Ludigo, technical officer of the Ugandan Cleaner Production Center.

With this small notice, Novotel saves a lot of water that was unnecessarily used before. It also saves money on the water bill, and it reduces the environmental pollution of the hotel.

It is a good example of how enterprises, even through small measures, can help to protect the environment. It is a good example of Cleaner Production.

Cleaner Production, as explained by Francine Umurungi from the ministry of trade and industry, is about how to reduce the negative impact of businesses on the environment. It focuses on minimizing resources used in production, and avoiding pollution rather than trying to clean up the mess afterwards. Therefore, we have to rethink products and processes to move towards sustainable development.

“While Cleaner Production offers clear and quantifiable benefits to businesses, both economically and environmentally, it is still a relatively new concept to many SMEs and even big industries in Rwanda”, Ms. Umurungi says.

She adds that Cleaner Production should become an integral part of business strategies, although that would require many efforts in building capacity of environment managers in the private sector.

Win-win strategy

Yet nothing should prevent Rwanda from following the example of Kenya and Uganda, which already have national centers for cleaner production. The director of the Kenyan center, Jane Nyakang’o, says that cleaner production helps to increase productivity, reduce production costs, use resources more efficiently, produce safer products and offer better services, and reduce pollution.

Cleaner production represents a win-win strategy both for the company and the environment, remarks James Ludigo, the technical officer of the Ugandan Center.
“It is a four-in-one tool: a management, an economic, an environment and a quality improvement tool. When continuously applied, it will help a company to be more competitive in the market,” he says.

Meanwhile, Novotel has done more than just making their guests aware that their sheets normally don’t get dirty after one night. The hotel has also spend US$ 5 million to process its sewage water, which is used in the hotel’s gardens, although a lot of water is still left.

“We have asked the city council to find a way of using this water in other gardens so it is not wasted,” a Novotel representative says.

So now it is question of getting more companies interested in clean production. Mr. Ludigo recalls that when the concept was introduced in Uganda, businesses initially didn’t show interest. Therefore, the Uganda clean production center decided to offer their services for free to show the benefits of the program. It didn’t take long to convince the companies, and membership of the center steeply increased.

“You start out small, and then you grow,” Mr. Ludigo explains. “The ministry of trade and industry has a major role to play in getting companies to incorporate the concept of cleaner production,” he says.

Construction industry

The workshop, organized by the Private Sector Federation (PSF) in collaboration with Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), helped participants to map the way forward.

First, the private sector will have to be made aware of the Cleaner Production concept. Once that has been done, companies need to assess how they dispose of waste products, and what can be done to recycle, re-use or recover it.

A revolving fund for the implementation of the Cleaner Production program in companies would certainly help. It was also noted that construction industry has a crucial role to play, in making sure that clients, especially when it comes to commercial buildings, are aware of their responsibility to protect the environment, and that they also pass on the message to their clients when it comes to the use of for instance electricity or water—especially, as it is shown by Novotel, in the hotel sector.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) also wants to contribute to the program. Emanuel Kalenzi, the head of UNIDO operations in Rwanda, explains that the organization has taken steps, together with the government, to set up a cleaner production centre in the country, and the organization has made available about US$ 350,000 to finance the activities of the Cleaner Production and waste management center.

“UNIDO is now working with the ministry of trade and industry, REMA, and PSF to set up the centre, recruit staff and procure the equipment that,” Mr. Kalenzi says.

The centre will train employees from companies on activities of Cleaner Production, such as how to conduct waste audit, assessment of options to conduct waste streams, as well as to assist these companies to identify the right technology to address issues of waste management.