Experts have called for renewed commitment to green industrial production in Rwanda as a way to mitigate climate change and protect the environment.
The call for embracing a circular economy for increased productivity and green growth comes at the time some industries are not complying with the adoption of cleaner production technologies aimed at environmental protection and curbing air pollution.
According to Rwanda Environment Management Authority’s inventory of sources of air pollution in Rwanda emissions are mainly from construction and manufacturing industries.
There are also emissions of pollutants associated with energy usage since 73 per cent of energy consumed by the construction industries in Rwanda is from furnaces or heavy oils which are high polluting fuels.
Approximately 45 per cent of energy consumption within the manufacturing industry is from furnaces or heavy oils and 3 percent from wood, both of which have relatively high emissions, the inventory shows.
Christian Sekomo Birame, The Director General of the National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) said that circular economy enables growth, increased productivity for industries as well as creation of green jobs.
"As we discuss how local industries and SMES can efficiently use available resources, improve waste management, and reduce their environmental footprint, we must renew our commitment to green industrial production,” he said.
He noted that in order to ensure green growth , the government established a Cleaner Production and Innovation and Climate Innovation Centre to help industries, SMEs , public and private institutions to adopt best practices in terms of resource efficient, cleaner production, circular economy and innovation.
"The partners should continue to work with this centre to advance their operations, and optimise production and consumption processes to produce more from less resources,” he said.
He said that there is a need for assessing the challenges faced by industries in adopting cleaner and green technologies.
"The waste produced in the industries can be recycled into usable products,” he said, adding that many industries have not yet understood what they should do to embrace green growth,” he noted.
Beatrice Cyiza, The Director General for Environment and Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment said that moving from the linear to a circular model of development entails changing practices, adopting new processes and approaches to production and consumption.
It must start with me and you, and collectively we will achieve a bigger impact,” he said.
Among key actions to undertake, Cyiza noted, include reducing waste and eliminating them where possible, introducing recycling practices, proper waste management practices as well as efficiently using resources.
According to Sylvie Mugabekazi, a Technical Expert at Cleaner Production and Innovation and Climate Innovation Centre, so far 54 industries and SMEs working with the Centre have reduced over 30,000 tons of Carbon dioxide (CO2) every year and over 22,300 tons of solid waste while 41million megajoules (MJ) of electricity was saved.
The efforts have also contributed to the reduction of 241,952 Cubic meters of wastewater per year while 153,175 cubic meters of water are saved per year.
Economically, $6,579,962 total savings were registered against $5,185,805 of investment since 2008, she said.