Accra, June 9, GNA - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday organised a day's seminar for 50 representatives from the mining and the manufacturing sectors.

The seminar was aimed at educating the participants on the criteria used in its yearly environmental performance rating and disclosure initiative dubbed 93AKOBEN".

"AKOBEN" has its roots in Ghana's 91Adinkra' symbol and stands for vigilance and wariness- a set of behaviour that is pertinent for environmental conservation. 93AKOBEN" also signifies alertness and readiness to serve a good cause.

Addressing the participants, Mr Lambert Faabeluon, Director, Manufacturing Industries Department, EPA, said the seminar also endeavoured to encourage industries to achieve high environmental standards.

He expressed disappointment about last year's 93AKOBEN" findings about 50 companies for failing the environmental performance test.

"Last year, almost all the companies that we conducted our test failed miserably and it was just pathetic. We are praying for an improvement this year that is why we have brought them here to let them know what we consider when grading them," he explained.

He cited improvement in the quality of effluent and gaseous emissions discharged as allowed by the EPA, discharge of a company's corporate social responsibilities, and reduction in water and energy consumption as some of the criteria used in the AKOBEN ratings.

"The other important one is general compliance with environmental requirements of the EPA and other regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drugs Board and the Factories Inspectorate Department," he added.

He noted that 93AKOBEN" used colours in its ratings and that gold meant a company's performance was excellent, green meant a company's performance was very good while blue was also used to grade a company whose performance was relatively good.

"We use orange to represent a company whose performance is unsatisfactory while red also stands for a company that is performing badly", he explained.

He said although the idea for 93AKOBEN" was conceived in 2006, its first assessment and ratings were carried out in 2010 because EPA had to work on coming out with the appropriate parameters.

Mr Joseph Baffoe, Senior Programmes Officer, EPA, noted that the "AKOBEN" initiative was serving as a substitute for any legal enforcement but rather to complement the EPA's existing regulatory management system by the use of disclosure and ratings.

He noted that this year's ratings would be made known to the public at a date yet to be announced after all the necessary assessments had been done by the EPA.

"From 2012 onwards, AKOBEN ratings would be disclosed on the World Environment Day, the 5th of June," he said.

Some of the companies that took part in the seminar were the Volta River Authority, Baron Distilleries, Amponsah Effah Pharmaceuticals, Bamson Company Limited and Nexam Cables.

He urged persons who wanted more information on the AKOBEN activities to visit www.epaghanaakoben.org.