Industrial environmental protection actions in the 1990s are characterised by the changing trend towards preventive and integrated protection measures rather than the exclusive use of "end-of-pipe"-solutions.
In Austria this process is driven by numerous environmental protection activities supported both by the public sector and the economy. To demonstrate how preventive environmental protection can be realised in Austria a number of case studies were carried out within the internationally coordinated "Prepare"-project. The main possibilities in waste avoidance, recycling and hazardous waste removal were studied within so-called "sectoral-concepts". Experience gained by WIFI in the ecological consultancy it has promoted was collated on a similar sector-specific basis in so-called "environmental manuals" as a tool for industrial consultants.
Accompanying research in these sector-oriented environmental protection activities in Austria concentrated on the analysis of these different activities. It provided a detailed description of the situation, objectives, procedure, current status of activities and outlook and highlighted synergetic effects and other ways in which activities could be fostered.
12/1991 - 12/1995