Evaluation of Environmental Management System for Small and Medium Enterprises in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

A system that manages environmental issues of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from the time of acquisition of raw materials up to disposal of the product is not well clear, especially in Tanzania. Most of the studies have been conducted in the field of environment management but few of them address the evaluation of the management of SMEs activities with respect to the environment. Although the nature of activities of SMEs has little noticeable environmental implications at the individual level but the impact is large due to diversification and labour intensity of these SMEs. SMEs employ about 20% of the total labour force in Tanzania. Thus, the consequences on the environment are therefore very high. In this study both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used to evaluate the awareness on Environmental Management Systems (EMS), the extent of implementation of EMS, tools used in EMS and Factors that hinder effective EMS. Descriptive and Factor analysis have been used as techniques for analyzing data. The study found a low level of awareness, whereby about 59% of respondents were slightly aware, on EMS, tools used for EMS were found to be more reactive tools than proactive tools. Whereas about 60% of SMEs are inappropriately and inadequately implementing elements of EMS according to ISO 14001. The study found critical factors with high influence on hindering the implementation of EMS including inadequate environmental consciousness of top leaders. It is recommended that more efforts should be invested in creating awareness, impacting the knowledge and skills of implementing the EMS as per ISO 14001 requirements at all levels of SMEs.