The Environmental Protection Act 1990 has implications for every business that produces waste or causes pollution to land, water or air. It sets standards of management and control, and places a duty on all businesses that have an impact on the environment to deal with it properly.
Environmental issues are becoming increasingly important to businesses of all sizes and across all industries. These issues can affect businesses in both financial and ethical ways. For example, businesses that tender for contracts may be expected to have certain environmental standards in place before they will be considered for the work.
Environmental legislation changes and develops regularly, and it is important to make sure you are aware of the key laws that impact upon your business.
Being able to demonstrate compliance and continual improvement in the way you manage your environmental performance is important in today’s business environment. Supply chain evaluation techniques now form a part of corporate assessments on SMEs. Implementation of an environmental management system will provide that commitment.
The British Standard BS 8555 sets out a five stage approach to implementing your Environmental Management System (EMS). You can set the pace of your environmental programmes. When you are happy with the system you have implemented, you may wish to seek certification via a third party audit scheme such as ISO 14001:2004.