The Ministry of Environment and Water started conducting visits to the industrial enterprises and companies that have applied for the environmental performance card, and such visits will continue until the end of November, 2012.
The ministry is working through these visits to assess requests by enterprises and companies that have applied for the environmental performance card to select the industrial facilities which have met the minimum requirements to obtain the card.
From her part, Eng. Othaybah Al Qayidi, Director of Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Department, has indicated that industrial enterprises are evaluated according to their commitment to environmental laws and regulations, requirements of Federal Law 24(1999) and its regulations on environmental protection and development, and application of safe environmental management. The assessment also includes how the enterprise is handling chemicals, industrial waste and air pollutants resulting from the facility, does the enterprise follow a system of health, safety and environment procedure, and the enterprise usage of green production technology. The assessment is conducted by many working groups of specialized technical specialists at the Ministry of Environment and Water; identified on a national scale level.
According to Al Qayidi, the environmental performance card initiative is one of the many initiatives at the Ministry that would support the achievement of the motto "Towards a Green Production 2021", throughout promoting a cleaner production concept to avoid the use of hazardous substances as much as possible, to raise the efficiency of industrial enterprises, and to the reduce emissions and waste resulting from production processes. The adoption of green production will reap many benefits, economically and environmentally. Economically, it will reduce the cost of waste disposal operations, and will reduce production costs in terms of providing energy and raw materials. While, on the environmental scale, it will reduce the quality and quantity of pollutants, reduce risks and industrial accidents, and thus it will improve the quality of the environment which would positively affect the human life, wildlife and biodiversity.
The Director of Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Department, has mentioned that the Ministry encourages the industrial enterprises and companies to obtain the environmental performance card, noting that the registration would still be open until the end of November 2012, through the Ministry's website www.moccae.gov.ae, which provides a special link to the card webpage; where industrial enterprises can view the registration form and the guidelines to be acquainted with the requirements and procedures on how to obtain the card. The ministry encourages the industrial enterprises to communicate with the environmental performance card team, in case of questions or any other queries, via e-mail: EPC@moccae.gov.ae.