A group of 40 participants from various industries in Kigali are undergoing a five-day training on cleaner production that is expected to lower the cost of production and pollution.

Steven Niyonzima, a Cleaner Production expert who is also in charge of the Rwanda Resource and Cleaner Production Centre, said that the training also doubled as a sensitization platform.

"We want these people to be trained and spread the message to others,” he said.

The training was jointly organized by Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the Commerce Ministry and Private Sector Federation (PSF).

During the training, Gitau Wamukui, one of the trainers, revealed that cleaner production was the most effective tool for environmental management because of its preventive aspect.

He revealed that over the years pollutants have gone through, "dumping, control, recycle and prevention (cleaner production).”

The expert added that cleaner production wasn’t only used in industries, but in fisheries, information systems, raw materials extraction, energy generation, transportation, tourism and hospitals.

"Costs of end-of-pipe treatment strategies have been accepted as a cost of doing business…there is need to correct some simple things like switching off lights and having in place correct leakages that will control wastage and cut costs,” Wamukui said.

"With cleaner production we were able to reduce the chemical we use from 6.7 percent to 5.8 percent without affecting production,” said the employee of Rwanda Leather Industries Limited.

The cleaner production centre that is located at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was launched last year by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

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