Environment | ‘Don’t wait for the government,’ MIECF Green Forum entreaties

From left; Veronique Rochet, Ricardo Neto, Yawei Chen, António Trindade, José Pedro Salema and Dennis Wang

Don’t wait for the government” and “put yourselves to work” were two of the most frequently heard expressions during the opening session of the Green Business Co-operation Day of the Macau International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (MIECF).
Participants expressed the idea that the private sector needs to take the lead in reducing waste and increasing efficiency.
Friday’s debate moderator, António Trindade, who is the founding president of the Macau Association of Environmental Protection Industry, remarked that “the striving for high efficiency brings us to zero waste,” before adding that “smart cities don’t happen by chance, nor only by design either. But, above all, they happen through collaboration.”
Dennis Wang, executive director and chairman of China Water Industry Group, said that his company, which results from a public-private collaboration, was created to explore the need for providing expertise in solving a daily-occurring problem of waste water discharge in China.
The president and Iberian manager of the European Recycling Platform, Ricardo Neto, approached the topic of “compliance,” which is an area of expertise for the company he represents, given that its purpose is to get communities involved in recycling materials. As he mentioned, “25 years ago waste was a problem in Europe, and as responsibility was attributed to manufacturers the decision was made to put in place a program that was initially a monopoly leading to high costs
to manufacturers. When we entered the market, our system was exactly targeted at lowering the costs of this return of the products, because lowering the costs to the manufacturer is ultimately lowering the final cost of the product, resulting in a clear benefit to all.”
The further use of resources at a secondary level was an idea expressed by José Pedro Salema, CEO and chairman of EDIA (a company that manages the infrastructure of Alqueva Dam in Portugal). The executive talked about the potential for a large water reservoir and how it could be used in several ways in order to increase its potential and benefit the community. As he mentioned “To do several things in the same space and using the same resources results in a ‘cost optimization’ that is ultimately what we all looking for.”
Corporate social responsibility was also a topic addressed at this forum by Veronique Rochet, regional sustainability manager at Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M), Shanghai, who talked about sustainability and new technologies for recovering and reusing clothing fibers. The company follows a standard called “People, Planet, Cost” (PPC) that “starts with the designers and goes all the way to the producers and to the raw material.”
“Clever labels” are another of the brand’s solutions to “inform the customers of how to better care for their products in order to make them last.”
Regarding this topic and the transportation of old and used clothes to be recycled, another remark arose regarding mainland China’s lack of logistic systems that do not allow a more sustainable system and more efficiency. The same happens in Macau.
Yawei Chen, assistant professor of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology, also submitted ideas regarding the use of spaces, addressed earlier by Salema. She gave the example of the Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands where “a series of companies from several fields were installed in order to be able to participate ‘in loco’ with ideas that help to make the port sustainable, cleaner and more efficient,” highlighting the idea to create “Smart Cities” that can integrate many different things in one area while also contributing towards its own sustainability.
Education and training were also topics addressed by Neto, who said, “Kids are the best vehicle for communication” and that “schools helped me to reach my target this year.”
Chen also addressed the main idea suggested by the moderator by saying “A smart city requires smart governors and smart citizens to work well. It’s not a top-down initiative but instead a grassroots’ one.”

32 protocols and 708 business agreements

According to the organizers of this year’s MIECF, 32 protocols and 708 business agreements were signed during the fair. The ninth edition of this international event attracted 460 exhibitors from 20 countries and regions.