Fostering green chemistry through a collaborative business model: A chemical leasing case study from Serbia

Abstract

Green and sustainable chemistry have been developed to help reduce the production and use of harmful chemicals. The two main approaches that have been used in fostering green and sustainable chemistry have been through policy initiatives and science/technology. This paper focuses on a complementary approach, Chemical Leasing. Chemical Leasing is a collaborative service-oriented business model that is aimed at shifting the focus away from profit generation, through increased sales, towards a value-added approach by providing a service. In this model the producer sells the functions performed by the chemical, while the payment basis is a functional unit rather than quantity or volume sold. The user of the chemical obtains benefits through a reduction in the chemicals used, and scientific know-how and support from the producer. This paper presents the results of a case study from Serbia with three partners: a beverage producer, a chemicals producer, and a facilitator. The Chemical Leasing implementation was done on lubricating the beverage producer's polyethylene terephthalate bottle packaging line. The results of the implementation were lower chemical consumption, substitution of a hazardous chemical by an environmentally friendly one, improvement of occupational health and safety, better packaging process efficiency, and economic savings. The case study illustrates that collaborative approaches can help reduce the use of hazardous chemicals (benefiting human health and the environment), whilst providing economic benefits to the partners. This research shows that collaborative business models can complement policy initiatives and scientific/technological approaches in fostering green and sustainable chemistry, and ultimately making societies more sustainable.