The IMAGINE project’s objectives are relevant to diffuse the environmental innovation for the organizations operating in various phases of the fashion supply chain.
The project foresees the development and the applications of an innovative method the “EMAS Network Approach”, to contribute consolidating the implementation of the different steps foreseen by the EMAS Regulation to the cluster, so to create a common basis for all the individual SMEs interested in using collective resources and a cooperative approach to achieve an individual EMAS registration. Four Tuscan clusters (textile cluster of Prato, fashion cluster of Empoli, tannery cluster of S.Croce sull’Arno and footwear cluster of Lucca), representatives of the whole fashion chain will be involved in the experimentation of the approach, creating a series of tools and models which will be imitable and transferable in other supply chains and in other European clusters.
The project is divided in two operational sections: “Emas Network Approach” and “Product, Sustainable Planning and Traceability.”
In the first section the 5 steps of the approach for the clusters will be achieved through the following activities: set a Promotion Committee, identify the significant environmental aspects and impacts relating to the organizations, draft an Environmental Policy, define a “collective” programme, ensure initiatives of external communication
At the same time we will develop an activity of formation, audit and support to the 12 organisations, for the achievement of the EMAS registration through the use and the valorisation of the district collective resources.
In this section, the participation of territorial partner (trade associations, research centres, agencies for the local development) will guarantee the control of the activity in the territories and in the firms.
The second section is a focus concerning the analysis of the environmental pressures of products and their traceability. Activities foresee a careful analysis in order analyze this environmental pressures (trough to Life Cycle Analysis) and reduce this impact through the development of criteria of sustainable planning (EcoDesign) and Green Procurement.
This project starts from successful experiences, developed among some EC clusters (in Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark, the UK, etc.), in the last ten year, at European level. These former experimentations proved that the cluster approach is an effective solution to improve the environmental performance of homogeneous groups of similar SMEs. It can facilitate the spread of EMAS registration and the product-related environmental certifications, by making it easier to obtain them.