What is ISO 14001?
ISO 14001 is the recognised standard for Environmental Management and specifies requirements for an Environmental Management System. It is used by businesses globally to improve their environmental performance and demonstrate their commitment to the environment. The standard can apply to any business, regardless of its size, sector, or activities.
Many business owners or decision makers typically want to know the return of investment of ISO 14001. So with that in mind, this blog will cover ways it will benefit your company financially.
Control Spending
Think about how much money your business spends on energy, paper, water consumption, and more. How much paper is wasted? How many lights are left on in the building overnight when not necessary consuming energy? How much water is left running? These factors are not only poor for our environment, but they also cost a lot of money.
It is important to control the amount of waste from your company to save money as well as the environment of course. We always hear the words reduce, reuse, recycle, and although it seems cliché, adopting these three simple words can have such a positive impact.
Increase Customer Satisfaction
4 out of 5 people are more likely to choose a brand with a positive approach to environmental sustainability. More people are acknowledging the environmental impact of their spending, and this is encouraging people globally to buy from greener brands. This means if as a business you are selling water but you are using glass bottles, you are automatically doing better than companies that are using plastic bottles, attracting more customers who wish to reduce their carbon footprint.
Following Government Legislation
In April 2022 the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) was introduced in the UK to incentivise the use of recycled material in the production of plastic packaging. The PPT applies at a rate of £200 per tonne on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled plastic. By recycling plastic, your company could be saving a significant amount of money and investing that into more useful things in your business.
In-Office
In office-based businesses, there are many minor changes that you can make to become greener. We live in a world where technology pervades most aspects of our life, and because of this, companies can go paperless and have all documents stored on their computers on software such as Office 365.
Energy consumption can be reduced through simple things such as switching off lights at night when no one is in the office. Do you have milk or other items of food such as fruit which are binned at the end of the day if not used? Why not encourage staff to take these home instead of letting them go to waste? These are only a few examples of how your office-based company can make a difference.
Implement ISO 14001
Implementing ISO 14001 is the best way to ensure that your company is doing the most so that it can become more sustainable. ISO 14001 proves to other businesses and customers that you have eco-friendly processes in place and are doing your part to save the planet.
If you want to reduce waste in your company and become more eco-friendly, then ISO 14001 is a must.