به حداقل رساندن ضایعات در شرکت های کوچک و متوسط ​​ــ آیا سیستم های مدیریت زیست محیطی کمک می کنند ؟

The main research question of our study was as follows: What opportunities for upgrading material efficiency and waste minimisation can be found in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? The empirical material consisted of 41 theme interviews in Finnish industrial SMEs. In the article, the SMEs are assigned to four different categories according to their attitudes towards environmental protection. This analysis also explains why SMEs build up environmental management systems (EMSs). The EMSs do not appear to provide much impetus for SMEs to implement waste minimisation. The reduction of wastes in SMEs is driven more by the costs of raw materials than by waste costs. From the standpoint of environmental authorities, it is therefore crucial to find procedures to support SMEs in increasing their efficient use of materials.

In Europe, an enterprise is considered to be an SME if it has fewer than 250 employees and the annual turnover does not exceed 40 million euros (1 euro=USD 0.92; April 26, 2000) or the annual balance-sheet 27 million euros [1]. A further basic criterion for an enterprise to be characterised as an SME is its independence, meaning that it may not be more than 25 per cent owned or controlled by another enterprise or jointly by several enterprises which are not themselves SMEs. SMEs, and subsidiary companies of corporations comparable to SMEs, are usually sub-contractors operating in different kinds of networks. These networks are principally composed of main customers, other customers, the company's own sub-contractors and competitors. The importance of the SME sector to the world economy is easily recognised. Typically, the sector globally accounts for about 70 per cent of gross national product, although this may vary considerably from country to country [2]. SMEs account for 99.8 per cent of all companies in the European Union, for 66 per cent of total employment and for 65 per cent of business turnover [3]. The share of SMEs in Finland is smaller than the average in the EU countries: the figure for employment is 58 per cent and that for business turnover is 45 per cent. SMEs account for 99.7 per cent of all enterprises, which is identical to the average for the EU. In Finland, one of the factors decreasing the role of the SME sector is the capital-intensive process industry which dominates the country's industrial structure. There is also comparatively little service sector production by small businesses in Finland [4]. Industry accounts for 27 per cent of overall employment in SMEs, whereas services and wholesale-retail trades have portions of 21–22 per cent each [3]. However, the most important environmental impacts of SMEs emanate from the industrial sector. The Finnish environmental policy has traditionally been based on administrative and legal regulation and on the procedure of environmental permits. As the latest development, the EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) has been implemented in Finland as part of the new national Act on Pollution Prevention which came into force on March 1, 2000. The present Finnish environmental policy can be described as a “partnership model” between government, industry and other stakeholders. In the 1990s, the control of point source inputs by large installations has greatly improved. Now the focus in the industrial sector is moving towards SMEs. The current Finnish Waste Act came into force on January 1, 1994, and the national waste legislation has now been harmonized with the corresponding EU legislation. According to the Waste Act, waste prevention has the highest priority in actions. However, to date little has been done in practice to limit waste generation.

In the SME sector in Finland, innovative and proactive enterprises do not develop environmental management systems because of a potential for exploiting environmentally related market opportunities or because of environmental risks. Rather, SMEs build up EMSs because they are demanded by external stakeholders. An EMS functions on a top-down principle: customers and directors of corporations demand that sub-contractors and subsidiary companies implement environmental management systems. EMSs appear to have a high instrumental value for entrepreneurs under strong pressure from stakeholders. The environmental management systems are good tools for SMEs to reach their statutory requirements. However, EMSs do not appear to provide much impetus for SMEs to implement waste minimisation. To overcome this drawback, increasing of material efficiency and adoption of life cycle thinking should be incorporated in the demand and the main principle of continuous improvement of EMSs. The minimisation of wastes in SMEs in Finland is driven more by the costs of raw materials than by waste costs. To the majority of SMEs the waste costs are so insignificant that they provide little incentive to introduce waste reduction. From the standpoint of environmental authorities, it is crucial to find procedures to support SMEs in increasing their efficient use of materials, because this appears to be a connecting factor between the enterprises irrespective of stakeholder pressures or the line of business. Efficient use of materials is a way to combine competitiveness and sustainability. It is also important to realize that the internal structures and decision-making processes of companies have a strong influence on their responses to external stimuli. Enterprises in the same branch under the same external pressure may thus adopt different solutions to cope with environmental challenges. Finally, it should be noted that this survey was carried out in a highly developed country which is proactive towards the environment. The results would be very different in developing countries.