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Ireland’s Environment 2012
102
sector has considerable leverage to
stimulate the marketplace to favour
the provision of more resource-
efficient, less polluting, goods and
services.
Green Tenders: An Action
Plan on Green Public Procurement
(GPP) (DPER & DECLG, 2012) is
aimed at boosting the uptake of
GPP, which is an important tool in
advancing the green economy and
resource efficiency agenda.
The Action Plan identifies eight
areas of procurement as particularly
suitable for GPP in the first instance:
construction; energy; food and
catering services; transport; ICT;
cleaning products and services;
paper; and uniforms and other
textiles. It sets an indicative
target to be achieved as soon as
possible, that at least half of public
procurement contracts will include
GPP criteria.
A substantive element of the
EPA-led National Waste Prevention
Programme (NWPP) is focused on
resource efficiency and dealing
with production and consumption
behavioural change. The NWPP
is part of a national family of
programmes, including those run
by SEAI, Enterprise Ireland and
IDA Ireland, which are designed
to promote a more sustainable
society and economy. In recent
years the scope of the NWPP has
been expanded to include wider
resource use including water and
energy. Projects include those aimed
at householders (Green Homes),
industry (Green Hospitality Award,
Green Business) and local authorities.
The most recent report of the NWPP
(EPA, 2011) shows that in many cases
the resource efficiency projects are
resulting in significant commercial
gains and savings for participants
as well as positive outcomes for the
environment (Table 8.1)
Table 8.1
Summary Data for a Selection of NWPP Resource Efficiency Programmes (EPA, 2011)
Programme
NWPP
Investment
(c. 2011)
Resource Efficiency
Actual and
Potential
Savings
Identified
(last 12
months)
Return on
Investment
(rounded)
Green Hospitality Award
€0.452M 6,400 t waste prevented
38,748,000 kWh energy saved
352,000,000 litres water saved
221 members
125 properties certified
€5.58M 12:1
Green Business Initiative
€0.374M Water, energy & waste savings
479 active members
45 Resource Efficiency Assessments
Typical savings of €40,000 per annum
per company assessed
c.€4M 11:1
€co-Cert
€0.03M 50 members
31 certificates
Average >€5,000 savings per certified member
€0.16M
5:1
Green Healthcare Project
€0.150M 2,700 t waste could be prevented
€80,000 potential savings in water use
in three hospitals
€1.6M 11:1
SMILE
€0.106M 658 waste ‘matches’ made
6,800 t waste potentially diverted
Numerous services & logistics traded
€0.812M
8:1
Green Retail
€0.05M 265 cost saving actions in energy, water
& waste for 10 participant stores
€0.142M
3:1
Green Home
€0.125M 11,000 participant households
>40,000 visits to greenhome.ie website
Est. €320 potential saving per high
performing household
€0.8M
6:1