Recognising that sustainable development is important for both economic and regulatory and reasons, our park based partnership created a business Club under the name of ECOLAC.

The purpose of ECOLAC is to raise standards in environmental management through a process of continuous improvement. Companies and organizations based in the park can sign an environmental Charter and obtain the ECOLAC Label.

ECOLAC is a place of debate on common Environmental Management System (EMS) problems and therefore provides an opportunity to identify collective solutions, for example, through pooling resources and collaborative working. ECOLAC currently has more than 70 members and is dedicated to continuous improvement through the implementation of concrete environmental impact reduction initiatives.

Each member of ECOLAC is committed to achieving annual improvements. Its 'small steps' approach offers each member the opportunity of progressing in a concrete yet realistic way, thereby helping to make its business, or research activity, a more sustainable one.

ECOLAC's steering committee grants the ECOLAC Label annually to businesses or organizations which respect their commitment to continuous improvement and achieve real results.

Some ECOLAC statistics:

• 70 Club members, both businesses and other organizations
• 32 businesses are certified with the ECOLAC Label
• 220 environmental commitments undertaken in 2007

Main achievements:

Collaborative actions undertaken so far have focuses on reducing the quantity of dangerous waste produced, waste recycling, reducing water consumption and energy use. ECOLAC has also developed specific action plans, including for waste disposal and transport:

• The Waste Disposal Strategy

Waste collection is carried out for all types of waste produced by the activities on the site. Our policy of mutualised waste collection has simplified management and improved waste monitoring.

• The Transport Plan

Savoie Technolac and ECOLAC support businesses and other users of the site with their home-to-work journeys and business travel. With this in mind, the main objective of the Transport Plan is to promote transport practices which reduce environmental impact, especially in energy use terms. Travel to work needs vary and a wide range of transportation solutions are available, from the simplest, walking or cycling, to public transport or car sharing, to more innovative modes such as on-demand transport or intelligent systems; all are utilized in accordance with user preferences. Less pollution means more peace of mind, and more savings.