The Irish Green Business Programme funded by the National Waste Prevention Programme has identified over €10 Million for 270 SMEs in the last 7 years. During this presentataion to the OECD “Green Business Ireland” initiative, reconfirmed that if we want to have sustainable business, we needed sustainable environment, and vise versa.What the participants found particularly beneficial were the examples shared on how to effectively assist enterprises in identifying opportunities for reducing waste, energy and water consumption – with one of the key takeaways being that it often doesn’t cost anything for SMEs to make savings, but unfortunately they are not aware of these “no-cost” measures.

1. SMEs in a green Economy
OECD Conference Centre, Paris
March 9th , 2018.
James Hogan
Programme Manager

2. Me and RE (Resource Efficiency) In Ireland
1995
Commenced
work CTC where waste
preventio
n
is our e thos
1993
EPA established in
Ireland to licence large
industry
1992
Working in Pharmachem
measuring air emissions

3. Me and RE (Resource Efficiency) In Ireland
2013
Green Business supportin
g
many Government bodies
2012
Origin Green: Food
& drink sustainability
programme-300 certif
i e
d
businesses
2011
Green Business; CTC
began management of
Green Business Programme
2018
Small companies still
struggling to manage
util
i
ty c osts
2018
Irish industry now have an excellent
Environmental performance, but still mo ving
towards effici ency and ci r cular economy

4. Green Business Ireland
2011- 2017
• Funded by NWPP/EPA
• Budget of €350,000 /annum
• Focus on Energy, Waste, Water.
• Working with range of sectors;
Food processing, banking,
public sector, small retailers
• Savings identified range from
€2,000 to €250,000
• Provide range of services including
site visits, guidance documents,
online tools, seminars and
community networking.
Seminars,
talks
Guidance,
tools
Site visits

5. Onsite visits
2011-2017, Green Business
has visited 270 businesses
and identified €10.1 million
potential cost savings
WATER
1.2M
ENERGY
6.2M
WASTE
2.7M

6. Energy Case Study
Engineering Company - (200 employees)
Lighting Upgrade
Annual Cost Saving: €42,000
• Replaced 1,198 florescent tubes:
• (58W) with LED tubes 24 W
• Reduced electricity costs by
€37,000/annum
• ROI – 6 months

7. Energy Case Study
Engineering Company (200 employees)
Staff Awareness
Annual Cost Saving: €25,000
• Staff introduced to “Traffic Light System”
to guide operators to turn off equipment,
when not required.
• Annual electricity savings =€25,000
• ROI –No Cost.

8. Water Case Study
Meat Processor (150 employees)
Water Management
Annual Cost Saving: €45,000
• 31% of water used in cleaning
• Triggered hoses with water at 55 – 65 oC
• Cost €3,500 per week
• Reduced flow from 26 litres/min to
20 litres/min
• Water cost savings €17,500
• Energy cost saving €19,500
• ROI – 2 weeks

9. Water Case Study
Shopping Centre (250 employees)
Water Monitoring
Annual Cost Saving: €25,000
• Carried out “overnight test”
• Read meter between 4am and 6am
when all water users where turned off
• Measured water consumption with
cost equivalent of €25,000/ annum
• Searched site for leak and discovered
faulty ballcock
• ROI-No Cost

10. Waste Case Study
Sandwich Production (200 employees)
Waste Prevention
Annual Cost Saving €15,000
• 112.5 tonnes / annum of bread
crusts sent for composting costing
€7,500 for waste management
• Crusts sold to a bread crumb
manufacturer earning €8,000/ annum
• Net benefit the company = €15,500
• ROI- No Cost

11. Guidance Materials

12. Guidance Stickers

13. Resource Efficiency
Online Tool for SMEs

14. Sample RE rating

15. Based on 270 results from 2017

16. Green Business
Regional Seminars

17. Assisting Communities

18. Green Business Community Network

19. Lesson Learned by Green
Business
• Many SMEs not monitoring utility costs
and unaware of the extent of waste
• Unaware of the opportunities to reduce
waste at “No Cost, low cost”
• Unaware of opportunities to increase
bottom line and enhance image
• Unaware of assistance available

20. How to encourage adoption of RE
• Raise awareness on benefits of RE,
starting with benchmarking and
identifying potential for RE
• Case studies/ simple guidance
• Seminars
• On-line benchmark tools
• On-site visits
• Recognition and award schemes (Origin Green)
• Establish regional Green Business Networks
• Provide attractive financial packages

21. 21
James Hogan
Green Business Programme Manager
Clean Technology Centre
Cork Institute of Technology
Melbourn Building,
Bishopstown, Cork
Ireland
T: +353 21 4344864
E: james.hogan@greenbusiness.ie
www.greenbusiness.ie
Thank You

22. Reference websites
http://greenbusiness.ie/
http://www.epa.ie/waste/nwpp/
https://www.origingreen.ie/
https://www.seai.ie/
http://ctc-cork.ie
https://www.resourceefficient.eu/en/about