A MAJORITY of companies across industries in India are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and these account for a huge segment of the country’s economy. According to a report by the Government of India, around three million SMEs are currently operational in the country, generating over 40% of the nation’s GDP, However, along with their role in the economy, SMEs also account for over 70% of industrial pollutions, which poses a serious threats to the environment.

The huge contribution of SMEs to pollution is largely due to the obsolete technologies they are use a general lack of awareness. According to Kurian Joseph, Associate Professor, Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University,\'SMEs account for a majority of environmental pollution due to their poor productions methodologies and obsolete waste management technologies and obsolete waste management technologies and obsolete waste management techniques.\"

To mitigate environmental issues, SMEs were urged to adopt conventional technologies such as end-of-pipe systems for waste treatment, but these failed upon large-scale implementation due to cost contraints.In response to this, industry associations and the government has undertaken several initiatives to establish industrial sustainability and ecological safety through waste minimization and the development of cleaner production technologies. The initiatives have not only helped SMEs in terms of waste management but also boosted their bottom lines through resource optimisations.

Adopting the new practices also helps SMEs become compliant with international regulations for ecological safety. A few initiatives that have assisted SMEs in terms of waste minimisations, regulatory compliance and revenue enhancement are discussed below. Waste minimization Circle (WMC) conceived as part of integrated project through the National Productivity Council (NPC) in 1995-96, the WMC is a government initiative aimed at developing cleaner production technologies and sharing information on pollution prevention.

The second phase of the project, commenced in 1997-98, aimed at enhancing the SME awareness of cleaner production practices. Since its establishment, the project has benefited several SME units in terms of resource optimization and regulatory compliance. SSk Distillery, a small alcohol distillation unit in Maharashtra had an alcohol production capacity of 30 kilolitres per day. Earlier, the facility faced problems pertaining to inefficient treatment of spent wash, resulting in excessive waste generation and regulatory issue later; it adopted the Dual Biofermcen Process, modified fermentation process developed through WMC efforts.

The technology reduced the spent wash generation by 40% and increased the production capacity by 100%. In another instance, Dintex Dyechem Ltd, a mid-level day chemical manufacturing firm in Ahmedabad, produced around 150 tone of vinyl sulfone every month. As the chemical is included in the government\'s list of highly toxic gents, the manufacturing unit was under strict surveillance by regulatory agencies monitoring environmental pollution. The company adopted WMC methodology to assess the existing pollutant load and the scope for reducing the load as well as optimizing resources such as energy and raw materials.” After the implementation of WMC methodology, we have registered annual savings of around Rs 2 coror on operations like acid recovery, Waste water treatment and product recovery,\" Says Dinesh S Shah, MD, Dintex Dyechem Ltd.

Moreover,the environmental load of the firm has also been reduced remarkably, thus making it compliant with government regulations. Networked Material Follow Initiatives have also been taken by industrial associations such as the confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to develop technologies for cleaner production and waste minimization. CII has developed an industrial ecology-based approach to explore the potential of networked material flow for a set of SMEs. \"The systems uses the waste products of one unit as raw material for another with the ultimate goal integrating all such units within an industrial systems,\" say Sridhar Bhagavataula, Executive Officer, CII for this, CII has set up a number of waste exchange banks which facilitate the material flow network.

This system saw successful implementation at Naroda industrial Estate in Gujarat. Naroda Industrial Estate is a conglomerate of around 700 SMEs from the estate faced the huge problem of ensuring effective waste management, for which it adopted the CII approach. In this approach, waste-associated data was analyses using a Geographic Information System, Which helped in identifying the commercially useful waste. This waste was then refaced as raw material for other industries. For example, spent acid is being used to produce ferrous soleplate and biodegradable wastes are being explored as a source of energy.