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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT—“Sorry, it will take awhile before the room
becomes comfortable,” Daniel Escusa apologized as he
flicked on the lights at the conference room.
The
young pollution-control officer had known in advance
that we were arriving for an interview that morning, yet
was turning on the air conditioner just now.
“SOP,”
he says, grinning, as he again played with the light
switches, dimming the far portion of the room where no
one was positioned.
He need
not explain further, however. Early on, as we made our
way into the factory of Tailin Abrasives Corp., a
Taiwanese manufacturer of grinding and cutting wheels
here at the Subic Bay Industrial Park, we noticed
darkened hallways and rooms.
Further
down the work area, some employees were soaping and
scrubbing their hands in front of faucets that
automatically shut down after just a few seconds.
This
must be one deeply savings-conscious investor-company, I
thought.
For some
P20,000 that Tailin Abrasives had invested in systems to
conserve electricity and water, and to segregate,
recycle and recover wastes, the company had reported an
annual savings of P485,600.
And the
investment’s payback period? Just 15 days in all!
“Only a
few realize that you don’t have to spend much to become
green and more profitable,” says Escusa, who spearheaded
the firm’s waste-management program after joining a
seminar on “Ecoprofit” approach just several months
ago.
The
“Ecoprofit” methodology, introduced in the Subic and
Clark free ports under the Green Philippines program,
combines cleaner production and environmental management
to improve the ecological performance of companies while
improving resource efficiency.
The
objective, according to the Subic Bay Metropolitan
Authority’s (SBMA) Ecology Center, is “to reduce the
environmental impacts of both small- and large-scale
industrial activities, while strengthening the economic
development of enterprises through the introduction of
innovative, integrated and environmental-friendly
technologies.”
The
project is funded by the European Union’s Asia-Pro Eco
Programme, and involves training, certification and
networking.
Since
the introduction of Ecoprofit here, Tailin, at the
suggestion of Escusa, had implemented the conversion of
its conventional faucets to auto shut-off types;
practiced waste segregation and recycling; replaced oven
gaskets to minimize temperature loss during curing of
its products; and reduced layers of packaging.
It was
not easy at the beginning, Escusa revealed, since
employees were initially resistant to change.
“When we
installed the auto shut-off faucets, for example, the
workers grumbled that the company has become a miser to
the point that employees couldn’t properly wash their
hands,” Escusa laughed.
“But we
patiently explained that that, in fact, would enable
them to scrub and clean their hands thoroughly. Then,
after realizing the benefits—to both the workers and the
company—we had smooth sailing.”
Now, the
company also plans to reduce diesel consumption, to use
“smart” bulbs for better illumination and energy
efficiency, to insulate its chemical storage room,
reduce the thermal load of roofs by insulation and
reflective painting, and to implement eco-ventilators to
improve air quality.
The last
on the to-do list, he revealed, is also designed to help
curb absences caused by sickness.
“When
you keep your workers healthy and happy, you also cut on
lost man-hours. That’s another inexpensive measure,” he
says.
The
planned measures, to cost some P200,000, are expected to
further whittle down Tailin’s power consumption by
24,000 kWh—a reduction that would mean annual savings of
P132,000.
The
benefits of Ecoprofit measures are also being realized
now at the manufacturing plant of Hitachi Terminals
Mechatronics Philippines Corp., maker of automated
teller machine parts and card readers at the
Japanese-owned Subic Techno Park in Subic.
Over at
Hitachi, a waste-management committee composed of
workers and management-level personnel has effectively
realized some P1.38 million in annual savings with
Ecoprofit investments worth just P300,000. Payback came
in after just six months.
The
measures included conserving water and monitoring
consumption, conducting aircon maintenance on a regular
schedule, checking on compressed air leaks through a
monthly energy audit, reusing packaging materials like
cartons and strict implementation of waste segregation.
The
measures were so effective that the company now realizes
an annual reduction in its power consumption by 226,700
kWh, and a decrease in water usage by 4.6 million
liters.
“You may
not know it, but the solutions are already there, just
waiting to be utilized,” said Kazuhiro Yasuda, the
firm’s comptroller, who is a staunch advocate of the
program.
With the
committee, Yasuda has also instituted the mandatory
switch-off of lights and cooling systems during break
time, and promoted a paperless office setup where
communications are made through an in-house computer
network, or intranet.
Other
environment-friendly measures to be undertaken are:
installation of more plastic curtains to better manage
temperature in the facility, improvement of the plant’s
thermal heat chamber, replacement of fluorescent and
hi-bay lamps with compact fluorescent lamps, revision of
the company’s waste disposal process and further conduct
of worker education on water conservation.
Incidentally, both environment-conscious companies are
in Subic’s top 20 exporters, according to SBMA records.
Last
year Hitachi Terminals was the second-biggest exporter
here, with total exports worth $90.56 million, while
Tailin Abrasives was the 12th-biggest, with $7.29
million worth of export products.
Another
good news is that the successful Ecoprofit program not
only puts bigger smiles on the faces of “green”
investors; It is also directing more benefits toward
employees, apparently.
Yasuda
said the money saved by Hitachi from its
waste-management measures will be used for “further
staff development.”
At
Tailin, meanwhile, the management is now talking about
better prospects for employees as well, instead of just
minding the company’s bottom line, says Escusa.
And the
cash bonus for employees? “That may not be so far
behind,” he winked. |
