ISO 14001: 5 ways to support your environmental goals

ISO 14001 (also known as the ISO 14001:2015 standard) is the international standard for environmental management systems (EMS). This EMS certification helps you to control the environmental aspects of your business, reduce your environmental impact and keep your business compliant with environmental legislation. This certification focuses on re-use and recovery of waste to minimise the risk of any potential damage to the environment. You’ll need to focus on your business’ environmental responsibility to ensure compliance with this management system.

If your organisation is ISO 14001 standard certified, you’re going to see a wide range of benefits, from improved reputation to increased engagement across your staff. Through minimising your waste and cutting down on your usage, you’re probably going to reduce your operating costs too. This is a globally recognised industry standard, so can help to boost your business’ reputation which could lead to new clients who are sustainability focused like you. Also, because the certification requires extra staff training, you’re likely to see an increase in staff engagement throughout the processes.

The best place to start is to take a full look at the waste your business generates. If you can see the bigger picture and identify all your different waste streams, you’re in a better position. There’s no point in jumping straight into organising for a separate collection if you’re not generating enough waste to warrant it. You might find that you’re producing a lot of cardboard waste and need a baler or compactor to minimise the amount of collections you need and reduce your carbon footprint. By completing a waste audit, not only will you see improved efficiency in your waste management, not only will you see improved efficiency in your waste management, you’ll know which steps you need to take.

By segregating as much waste as possible, you’ll be making sure that as much is available for reuse and recycling as possible. If your organisation is generating food waste and it’s going in the same bin as items that could be recycled, your waste might become contaminated. If this happens, any recyclable materials will be harder to recover. Therefore, segregating each of your waste streams is a great way to work towards ISO 14001.

One of the key elements of ISO 14001 is making sure that your waste doesn’t have any negative impacts on the environment. The best way for you to do this is by ensuring that your chosen waste carrier is licensed. If they’re not authorised to handle your waste it could be fly tipped or dumped which can have damaged effects on the environment.