The South African pulp and paper industry has been identified as the prime candidate in which to undertake Cleaner Production audits and training. This is primarily due to Norwegian expertise being available for this industry. Additionally, the two major South African pulp and paper companies, namely Sappi, which is listed on the London, Paris and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges, and Mondi, which forms part of the Anglo American Industrial Corporation group of companies, are, due to their size, notably able to facilitate in the distribution of the results and recommendations from the Cleaner Production audits throughout the industry, and up and down the supply chain.

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s Integrated Pollution and Waste Management Policy goals was further advanced with the successful completion of this project. High environmental or cost impact production processes in participating pulp and paper businesses will be identified through the Cleaner Production audits were carried out during the first phase of the project.

In order to achieve this, training was carried out from the initial planning and organisation stage through the implementation stage at regular intervals. This successful approach was developed from experience gained by the consortium members in the running of over 25 waste minimisation clubs in South Africa, and from training developed under the Danida Cleaner Textile Production Project.