Manufacturing SMEs doing it for themselves: developing, testing and piloting an online sustainability and eco-innovation toolkit for SMEs

ABSTRACT

Public discourse frequently cites the damaging activities of large organisations on global environmental issues, but smaller organisations are rarely, if ever, featured. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make up 99% of all businesses in the EU, cumulatively causing more industrial pollution and producing more waste than larger businesses. However, large companies are more likely to address sustainability issues than smaller ones. SMEs need help to change. In a collaborative approach, an online sustainability framework was developed to overcome the barriers contributing to the slow uptake in environmental management in SMEs. The views of owner-managers were incorporated throughout the development process. Best practice environmental tools and training were identified, which were designed in an SME-friendly way and made available online. This paper describes the development of the pilot Sustainability and Eco-Innovation (SEco) toolkit, followed by an analysis of its use. This research finds that a self-led toolkit was not enough to nudge SMEs to address environmental issues, despite being approved by owner-managers at each step.

KEYWORDS:

• Business sustainability
• SMEs
• sustainable manufacturing
• eco-innovation
• environment
• sustainability toolkit
• SME owner-managers
• systems thinking

Acknowledgments

The research was carried out in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology as part of the FutureSME project funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme [Grant agreement ID: 214657].

Supporting Materials

All the tools and training are available to download on www.futuresme.eu

eLearning Lessons can be accessed online using the links

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for SMEs here

• Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for SMEs here

• Design for the Environment (DfE) here

• Product Service Systems (PSS) here

• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for SMEs here

• Environmental Management Systems (EMS) for SMEs here

Environmental Legislation for SMEs here.

Notes

1. In Europe SMEs account for 64% of total industrial pollution and contribute approximately 60-70% of the total industrial waste .

2. Such as climate change, consumption of limited resources, legislative and customer pressure on manufacturers to reduce the impact of their products.

3. Eco-innovation can encompass ‘all innovations that have a beneficial effect on the environment, regardless of whether this effect was the main objective of the innovation’ (Carrillo-Hermosilla, Del Río, and Totti 2010).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sinéad Mitchell

Dr. Sinéad Mitchell is a lecturer in Engineering and a member of the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway as a sustainability researcher. She has a rich industry background which helps the application of theory to practice. Principal research interests include sustainability in business, sustainable manufacturing, eco-innovation and the circular economy.

Paul O’Dowd

Dr Paul O’Dowd, has been a lecturer in the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department of GMIT since 1998, and has taught and supported undergraduate and postgraduate students at all levels from Certificate to PhD.

Aurora Dimache

Dr Aurora Dimache, is a lecturer and researcher at GMIT. She is also and environmental consultant and specialises in Life Cycle Assessment methodologies.