President of the MRCC, U Pau Hein (second from left), with officials at last week’s signing ceremony.

THE Myanmar Responsible Care Council (MRCC) was last week established at a signing ceremony held at Yangon’s Traders Hotel on September 30. The council’s goal is to reduce environmental pollution caused by chemical industries by educating businesses about responsible practices.

Thirty-two chemical industry businesses have already signed the voluntary agreement that focuses primarily on waste disposal.
The process of establishing the MRCC was initiated three years ago by the Japan Chemical Industrial Association. The Yangon-based Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) has also been a strong supporter.

It is now hoped that some of the safe environmental practices employed by Japan’s chemical industry will be adopted here. Dr Kyaw Htin, a consultant with the Myanmar Chemical Group, under the Myanmar Industrial Association, said it was important to establish an environmental education council while the local chemical industry was still relatively small.

“Responsible Care (RC) is very important for the chemical industry, which includes importers and distributors of chemical products, factory workers and employers. So far, there are not many chemical industry companies and factories in Myanmar. But we think the sector has a great deal of potential in Myanmar and expect it to continue growing in the future,” Dr Kyaw Htin said at the signing ceremony.

There are approximately 70 factories in Myanmar that are involved in chemical production, mostly located in the country’s industrial zones. The factories, which produce goods ranging from soap, paint, liquor and paper, are operated by both the private and government sectors.

Of the 32 initial signatories to the voluntary agreement, the factories of United Paint Group and United Pacific Detergent, located in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone, will be used as examples of how to follow the MRCC waste disposal guidelines.

Mr Konoshin Fukuma, an environmental expert from the Japan Chemical Industry Association, said the council’s success depended on the active participation of the local chemical industry.

“RC is not a law but an ethical standard that every stakeholder from the chemical-related community should follow and practice voluntarily for the protection of the environment,” Mr Fukuma said.

“The implementation of RC in Myanmar is both the responsibility of the MRCC and participants from the industry – 50 percent each,” he said.

But every factory owner, manager, employer and employee working for a chemical-related company or factory has a responsibility to protect the environment from chemical pollution, he added.

Since 2006, Japanese organisations have been providing technical assistance to the local industry about RC and how to safeguard against environmental pollution caused by poor chemical waste disposal techniques.

“The program was initiated in 2006 and it will be managed by JETRO Export Service Abroad until 2010,” said Mr Kojima, the managing director of JETRO.
The RC program is focusing on chemical industry, he said, because it produces some of the most damaging industrial waste. He added that MRCC would primarily focus on the problem of water pollution.

“If the chemical waste from factories is simply abandoned in the closest river, the water will be polluted. This can cause several problems; for example, when we consume fish from the polluted water, it can be hazardous to humans,” Mr Kojima said.

“The success of our RC activities depends on the willingness of the industry stakeholders to comply – the owners, management, employers and employees but this group also includes consumers,” he said.

“We are scheduled to educate RC awareness in Mandalay, Monywa and Taunggyi, where Myanmar’s major industrial zones are located,” Mr Kojima said.

The RC concept was initiated in Canada in 1977 and has now been adopted in more than 50 countries around the world.

Other ASEAN countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, have already established national-level RC councils, according to U Zaw Min Win, vice president of the MRCC.