Measures to bring ecological and economic advantages to this brewery.

Ecoprofit - the idea of saving production costs by employing environmental protection measures - has been successfully implemented in numerous Austrian and German towns for many years. „Ecoprofit-Vienna, for example, has allowed 15 enterprises to save more than EURO 1.2m", says engineer Clemens Rainer, project manager of Denkstatt, an Austrian environmental and management consultancy with branch offices in some Eastern European Countries. According to Mr. Rainer, the Austrian government has provided financial assistance for ten firms of the Romanian city of Ramnicu Valcea to launch an Ecoprofit environmental programme.

 

Key programme Romania

 

The concept of the programme to support Eastern European Countries combines regional and topical interests. The environmental sector has been given special weight and Ecoprofit Ramincu has been started.
„Romania has a lot of industrial locations with an enormous potential for improvement“, says Klaus Steiner, member of the coordination office for Eastern European support programmes, part of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He says environmental measures in Romania are particularly important in view of the country´s plan to join the European Union. Meanwhile, the successful enterprises have been awarded the „Ecoprofit Enterprise" title - an international recognition of their environmental efforts. As the project manager, Clemens Rainer, points out: „Apart from saving money by running the programme, the enterprises are given easier access to international support programmes.“ Ramnicu Valcea is the first town in Romania to make a step towards adopting the environmental standards of the European Union.

 

Environmentally fit in theory and practice

 

In eight workshops and within four days of training the enterprises have been told how to use ressources and raw materials more efficiently and how to optimate production and to avoid waste. Know-how for establishing environmental teams, striking an environmental balance-sheet and even basics about project managements have been taught at the workshops.
Environmental data have been collected and analysed in the enterprises between the workshops. „In cooperation with the Romanian project-teams we have collected more than 1.000 data and listed many innovative ideas for improvements. Some of the measures can be applied very quickly provided that the cost-benefit-calculation is okay", said Clemens Rainer.
From Klaus Steiner`s point of view the multiplier effect of „Ecoprofit Ramnicu" is the main criterion for subsidies. „Above all the project shows that environmental measures can be realized quickly even if there is no money available for capital expenditure. Simple and low priced ideas often lead to rapid success for example to save fuel or raw material so that the costs are kept low."
To make the great results of „Ecoprofit Ramnicu" public is the task of G&L, an Austrian ageny specialized on environment-communication. „In the course of the projects we have invited Romanian journalists to Vienna to visit Ecoprofit-enterprises and get more information about operational environmental protection“, said Mag. Ernst Leitner, managing director of G&L.