Having taken many steps to reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment over the years, as a firm we were keen to make our achievements official as well as further reduce our environmental impact.
So earlier this year we signed up to do an ISO certification, ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, supported by ISO Quality Services Ltd and I am delighted that we have achieved the certification.
Being an office based business there is a limit to what can be done and the audit highlighted that we are already doing much of what was required for the certification. One of the main areas of focus for us now is our energy usage. Although we knew what we were spending on our energy bills, we didn’t track our monthly usage to target a reduction over time. Setting up this monitoring has made me even more aware of not wasting energy – we can turn off radiators in meeting rooms when we are not using them for example and we plan to install lights with sensors, like we have in our hallways, in our attic storage space too.
We already monitor our waste having used Printwaste for many years to shred our confidential paper and for recycling. We have achieved a Zero to Landfill Certificate annually, showing our waste reducing over time which is expected to continue as we’ve moved to accounting software for paperless files. We are also going above and beyond in this area, since we recycle ‘non-recyclable’ waste, such as crisp packets, using a local group who collect and send packages to Terracycle to raise money for charity.
Pulling all the information together required for the audit obviously takes time to do but Stacey, Perry and Andy and the wider team at ISO QSL are extremely knowledgeable and supportive and I can recommend them to any business considering an ISO certification.
As a result of working towards our certification we now have an Environmental Policy in place for the firm. This is something we can develop over time and we have follow up meetings scheduled with ISO QSL to monitor what we are doing and make improvements and given this is a fast moving area for businesses to make sure we are on top of developments.
As a firm we are rightly proud of our achievement and will continue to do our bit for the environment and community. I hope many more businesses will join us on the same journey.
Tim Watkins is Managing Partner and is more than happy to talk to any clients about our ISO certification – please call 01242 776000 or email tim.watkins@randall-payne.co.uk to arrange a convenient time.
