Your first thought when it comes to the environment may be things like recycling, saving water by turning the tap off when washing up, using less electricity by turning lights off during the day and walking to places instead of using the car – making small changes as individuals to ensure that we collectively make a difference to the bigger picture. But do you ever wonder how bigger organisations make their difference? We go through current UK laws that affect these organisations. A consultant and lead auditor in ISO 14001 Environmental Management, Kathy Clements, outlines how and why an organisation should be making a positive environmental impact and what updates are being made to ISO 14001 implementation.
Organisations generally have a higher environmental impact than individuals do due to the larger scale. Think laws and plastic straws. Plastic straws have now gone in the UK. Imagine how many plastic straws McDonald’s went through in a day and now doesn’t – this is just the beginning of a whole host of other changes. The idea of environmental awareness initiatives is to point out the positive impacts an organisation can have, not just the negatives. For example, if a big corporation were to say they were CO2 nil, this could then help smaller organisations follow suit by finding ways to help them achieve the same goal.
Key UK Environmental Laws Every Organisation Should Know
- WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) – Used electrical equipment gets sent off to a recycling scheme. For example, a laptop would be sent off and the inside components are taken out and recycled, whilst the harmful content is disposed of properly to protect the environment.
- ESOS (Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme) – Applies to companies over a certain size/turnover. An assessment of a company’s emissions and energy usage is submitted to show how it is affecting the company and therefore environment.
- SECR (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting) – An Energy reporting scheme that requires companies to report energy consumption and the greenhouse gas emissions alongside that.
- Euro Six – This is to maintain a reduction in nitrous oxide or nitrogen oxide to be more efficient. In cities like London, you must pay a tax or have a charge if you are using anything below the most recent engine.
Environmental Changes and Global Initiatives Impacting Businesses
The main thing is the COP26: The United Nations Climate Change Conference that brings together an annual meeting including all the countries that have signed the UNFCCC about a whole host of things, making agreements and countries getting involved to address climate change. Currently, it is largely about air pollution, water usage, water pollution and emissions, but the main change that companies may notice is the awareness that the conference brings alongside the advancements in technology.
On one side, you have technology improvements with devices to be more efficient by using less energy and having fewer harmful components inside. On the other hand, you have technology that has advanced to further aid the environment, such as machines that can make bioplastics from wheat, for example, and these bioplastics are just as strong as regular ones but are biodegradable.
Why ISO 14001 Is an Effective Environmental Management Standard
ISO 14001 is a gentle approach to environmental management; it is an introduction to understanding and adhering to laws mentioned above and helps you understand how to make small improvements to look at what can be done now vs a year vs several years. Rather than disrupting a company’s existing structure, ISO 14001 is designed to slot into what is already being done but also ensure that there are objectives to be met later down the line that are logical for how most companies work. One way to look at the bigger picture of the impact ISO 14001 is to realise we are not just one little island trying to accomplish one little thing – as it is an international standard, we ask what is being done in Europe? Australia? America? They may have differing ideas that we can utilise to help us.
Practical Steps Your Organisation Can Take to Improve Environmental Impact
The best way to improve the environment is to be aware of the suppliers you use, lighting and heating being turned off; is it possible to have lights and heating on a timer rather than consistently? Where possible, can packages be delivered altogether rather than every day? Is it possible to go cloud-based so that everything is run on one server rather than several individual servers? The most important aspect is to be environmentally conscious. If every organisation made small changes, it would lead to a bigger positive impact together. ISO 14001 really embodies that theory.
Evidently, it remains all about the small things. No matter the size of any business, if you look inside of it, it is still made up of individual people who make individual choices. When those individual people make choices together, it then becomes more noticeable on a bigger scale. This only exemplifies the positive environmental impact a business could have. We all know businesses are fueled by competition; if one business makes a noticeable positive environmental change, this recognition can impact the next business, which will be competing to be even better. On a larger scale, when you have all of these businesses in a town working together, it starts to reach cities, counties and even countries. Before you know it, those changes that were once small and individual could be impacting the world for the better.
