What color are you buying?

Buying “green” or buying sustainable products is one of the areas that have yet to be fully explored, both by
companies and consumers on foot. In this sense, we have, to a greater or lesser degree, the possibility of
exerting an influence on the market and of acting more respectfully of the environment. From RQA, beginning
with this issue, we will be working together in this field by creating a Space for buying green, a section that
will be devoted to recommendations, tools, and information of all kinds for buying more sustainably.

Interview
Enthone España, S.A. and EMAS move together. Josep Atsuara Soriano, Director of Quality,
Environment and Safety in the organization.

Taking advantage of the intended move of company headquarters, Josep Atsuara told us about some of the
company’s experiences in environmental management, as well as some specific measures in relation to
EMAS.
He mentioned the need for conducting a new initial environmental analysis and for seeking new
environmental authorization, as well as the improvements envisioned for the new headquarters, as they
relate to the principle of continual improvement of the EMAS registration. Among other activities, he pointed
out: storage, new waste management with the installation of ion exchanger equipment, construction of
a rain water collection reservoir, and parking lot in the building conceived not only as a parking lot but
also as a waste water collection site in the event of a fire.
He explained the positive effect that EMAS has had an effect on interaction with Sant Just Desvern
Municipality during the move, and how both the company and citizens in this Catalonian location have
reached an agreement, to the satisfaction of both parties in regard to doing business in the aforesaid
municipality.

Exchange of ideas and experiences

PortAventura
A good example of environmental communication of the organization is the temporary pass which
PortAventura has sent to its clients through its magazine published for members of the PortAdventura Club.
Environmental awareness of the park is explained in this flyer, from its design, to its EMAS registration, and
finally ending with a description of how to recognize the various environmental-management initiatives
implemented by the company.

EMAS helps hospitals to be more ecological.

By officials responsible for the environment of Empordà Health Foundation, Asepeyo de Sant
Cugat Hospital, Vic Hospital Consortium, and San Juan de Dios de Esplugues del Llobregat
Hospital.

The healthcare sector is one of the areas which could have a very negative impact on its surroundings unless
it is carried out in an environmentally-friendly way. The officials responsible for these healthcare centers told
us about some of the measures which they have implemented: replacement of mercury devices with
digital ones at Empordà Health Foundation (Hospital de Figueres), energy savings in the production of
sanitary hot water at the Prevention and Rehabilitation Center which the mutual insurance company
Asepeyo runs in Sant Cugat del Vallés, regeneration of waste water at the Vic Hospital Consortium, and the
awareness-raising efforts of healthcare professionals at San Juan de Dios Hospital.
Based on these four experiences, we see how our EMAS healthcare centers, in addition to safeguarding our
Health, also attempt to protect the environment which surrounds them.
EMCOFA builds with EMAS.
By Montse Fitó, Licentiate in Environmental Sciences and the party responsible for the
environment within the organization.

He explained to us how the company, founded in 1979, is now a consolidated organization in the construction
sector and that, with the implementation of EMAS registration and within its integrated management system,
there are 3 basic lines of action: education, the participation of workers, and continual improvements. In
this regard, a series of good environmental practices at work sites is in the process of implementation, which,
among others, are: the sorting of different waste into separately designated containers, order and
cleanliness at the work site, the proper maintenance of machinery, construction of a waterproof and
properly designated area for cleaning trucks, delineating different areas of work, etc. He emphasized
the use of machines to dig ditches in compliance with recycling requirements, especially intended to
take full advantage of materials, for instance, by using the material extracted from the ditches to refill them.
Finally, he discussed with us the benefits of having an ISO 14001 and EMAS certification, giving him a
competitive advantage when seeking contracts with public administrative bodies, which, in some cases, is a
precondition to submit bids.

Logical apples, squash, tomatoes….

By the Ecological Agricultural Production Unit of the General Administration of Agriculture and
Livestock of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (Generalitat).

We were told what ecological foods are and how the designations “ecological” and “organic”, in addition to
their abbreviations “bio” and “eco”, are synonyms for the same system of food production and preparation:
ecological agrofood production (EAP). This is a system for obtaining agricultural and food products that
use products and techniques that make full use of natural balances and exclude anything that could be
potentially harmful to the quality of the end product or the environment.
He discussed three fundamental issues: What farmers do to obtain ecological vegetable products: pest
control, weed control, and adopting measures to avoid accidental contamination, what lines of work
ranchers perform to obtain ecological animals: feed, the search for a natural habitat, and a state of
general healthiness based on prevention, and how ecological products are made with ingredients drawn
from ecological agricultural production and using techniques suitable to preserve the quality of the
end product.

News bulletin
In this issue, we explain how Pinsos Sant Antoni, the first Catalonian animal feed factory, has earned an
EMAS registration and how the Valencia Port Authority was recognized with the 2008 Ecofira Eco-
Excellence Company Award.

Environmental Agenda
Workshops, seminars, conferences, courses, master classes, and other sessions from July to December,
2008.

Space for Buying Green

In this issue, a new section is introduced, devoted to providing information for making sustainable purchases.
The criteria needed to make sustainable purchases are given, myths and taboos are broken about the product
or service, and a buying network is offered and explained, including websites of interest. Also discussed in
this issue is office paper.