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Environmental Management Systems Essay Research Paper (стр. 1 из 2)

Environmental Management Systems Essay, Research Paper

. ISO 14001 is a management standard, it is not a performance or product standard. The underlying purpose of ISO 14001 is that companies will improve their environmental performance by implementing ISO 14001, but there are no standards for performance or the level of improvement. It is a process for managing company activities that impact the environment.

The Environmental Management System contains the following elements:

· An environmental policy supported by top management .

· Identification of environmental aspects and significant impacts.

· Identification of legal and other requirements.

· Environmental goals, objectives, and targets that support the policy.

· An environmental management program.

· Definition of roles, responsibilities, and authorities.

· Training and awareness procedures.

· Process for communication of the EMS to all interested parties.

· Document and operational control procedures.

· Procedures for emergency response.

· Procedures for monitoring and measuring operations that can have a significant impact on the environment.

· Procedures to correct nonconformance.

· Record management procedures.

· A program for auditing and corrective action.

· Procedures for management review.

There are two phases to establishing an ISO 14000 EMS: creating the EMS and getting registered

1. Create an EMS

1. Establish a project committee responsible for learning about ISO 14000 and managing the creation of the EMS.

2. Project committee prepares a briefing for top management describing ISO 14000, the EMS, registration, costs, and benefits.

3. Top management commits to the EMS process.

4. Perform a gap analysis to determine how well the organization meets the ISO 14000 requirements and what it will take to meet them.

5. Present results of gap analysis to management and receive approval for continuation of the process.

6. Project committee prepares a draft environmental policy with top managment participation.

Project committee then:

· Designs a procedure to identify the environmental aspects of the operation.

· Identifies environmental aspects and impacts.

· Designs a procedure to identify legal and other requirements of the organization.

· Identifies legal and other requirements.

· Creates environmental objectives and targets for each relevant function and level in the organization.

· Establishes a program for achieving targets and objectives.

7. Present EMS to top management for approval.

8. Top management accepts EMS.

9. Policy and EMS are implemented and an audit function is established.

10. A final gap analysis is performed to determine if the organization is ready for a registration audit.

Organization applies for certification by outside auditors.

2. Get Registered

Organizations are registered by outside auditors or “registrars” as meeting the ISO 14000 standard. The registration can be for a specific company site, for several sites, or for the entire company. Very specific attributes of an EMS are specified in the 14001 standard. The steps in the registration process are:

§ Establish the scope of the registration. This can be done internally or with the help of outside auditors.

§ Apply for registration. This is a written application to the registration body.

§ Review documents about the organization’s EMS and submit them to the registration body.

Outside auditors perform full assessment.

§ Registration is granted by the certification body based on the auditor?s findings. An organization will receive one of three designations: Approval, Conditional or Provisional Approval, Disapproval. When a company is registered it receives a certificate and is listed in a certification register.

§ Ongoing activities are then required to maintain the registration. These include:

A. Monitoring and measuring the EMS

B. Investigating and handling nonconformances

C. Implementing corrective action and preventive action

D. Maintaining environmental records

E. Establishing and maintaining an ISO 14000 audit program.

Mini-Cases

Rockwell Automation; Twinsburg, Ohio.

The Twinsburg plant became one of the first registrants in the U.S. to ISO 14001. According the Roger Hartel, “certification sends a message to the company’s stockholders, customers, and employees. Being an exemplary environmental citizen is absolutely of critical importance to all these populations and to international business as well.” ISO 14000 and EMS have contributed to a continuing reduction of energy consumption and waste production. Recycling reduces material sent to landfills by about 150,000 pounds a year.

Plasticolor; Ashtabula, Ohio.

Registered to ISO 14001 in October, 1996. According to Don Herndon, they believe that a well-documented , efficient EMS provides a proactive approach for managing environmental activities. They are not just reacting to environmental problems, but “fix” them before they occur. This greater effectiveness helps reduce costs.

Xerox Corporation

Site recycling programs, including the conversion of solid waste to useable energy through incineration, saved Xerox over $12 million in 1995.

Xerox implemented a plastic recycling program. High grade plastic panels from returned Xerox products are collected, sorted, disassembled and ground for reprocessing. The plastic is then used to manufacture Xerox products or is sold on the open market. The program has already diverted 250 tons of plastic from landfill in Monroe County and 1996 estimates project 500 tons diverted with $100,000 in savings to Xerox.

3M

In 1990, 3M began a major waste reduction effort. By 3M definition, waste is what remains after raw materials are converted to products and by-products. During 1993, resource recovery activities in the U.S. recovered and sold almost 199 million pounds of paper, plastics, solvents, metals, and other by-products.

Since 1989, 3M realized more than $156 million by reclaiming and finding buyers for manufacturing waste. For example, employees at a 3M plant in Brazil developed a waste reduction program and sold $150,000 in waste materials and reduced waste disposal costs by $90,000.

3M’s technical employees have conceived and implemented 4,590 pollution solutions under the 3P program. For example, a resin spray booth had been annually producing about 500,000 pounds of overspray that required special incineration disposal. New equipment was installed to eliminate excessive overspray. The new design reduced the amount of resin used, saving more that $125,000 a year, on a $45,000 investment in

equipment.

IBM

1995 energy conservation activities saved $15.1 million, reducing electricity use by 226 million kilowatt hours. These were achieved through such efforts as energy conservation in manufacturing processes (Vimercate, Italy), installation of a condenser tube cleaning system for refrigeration machines (Mainz, Germany), and upgrading HVAC, lighting, and chilled water system controls along with systematic testing and repairs of an extensive steam trap system (Endicott, USA).

The IBM site in Austin, Texas, produced financial and social benefits by implementing a project that reuses high-quality rinse water in existing cooling systems. 1995 savings for the city were $103,000 with a rebate of $30,000 to IBM. 1996 savings to the city are estimated at $179,000. Recycling for sites in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut produced social benefits by recycling 1,669 tons of commodities in 1995. This equates to the conservation of 28,373 trees, 4,172 barrels of oil, 6.8 million kilowatts of electricity, 11.6 million gallons of water, or 6,676 cubic yards of landfill space. Another social benefit in 1995 was the avoidance of 17,000 tons of hazardous waste from production processes.

A new process for manufacturing ceramic substrates replaced methanol with deionized water. The estimated impact is a savings of $739,000 for every 100,000 pounds of glass frit, a raw material, used in production, a reduction in methanol emissions of 6,000 pounds, and improved cycle time of 30%.

Copley Square Hotel

A prominent hotel, it created an aggressive environmental program that provides a foundation for ISO 14001 registration. The hotel is an historic one with an upscale clientele. Their aggressive approach to reducing their impact on the environment helped them identify many ongoing benefits. The major benefit areas were: recycling, energy use reduction, and water use reduction. The following are the major actions and their results:

Recycling:

Energy Use Reduction:

? Energy efficient lighting was installed in public areas which are light 24 hours per day. 60 watt incandescent corridor ceiling lights were replaced 15 watt compact fluorescent lights: savings equal $3,622 annually plus 90% reduction in labor costs. 90 watt incandescent lights in table lamps in the lobby and elevator landings were replaced with 22 watt compact fluorescent lights: savings equal $1,540 annually and reduced labor costs. 30 watt exit sign lights were replaced with 1.8 watt LED exit signs: savings equal $1,179 annually.

? Install compact fluorescent bulbs in guest room table lamps and hanging lamps: predicted payback equal 1.81 years.

? Install compact fluorescent bulbs in back areas which are lit 24 hours: savings equal to $59.57 per bulb.

? Remind employees to turn off all energy using devices that are not being used: no estimate of savings.

Water Use Reduction:

? Installing toilets with 1.5 gallon capacity, replacing ones with 3.5 gallon capacity will save $3,276 and 430,000 gallons annually.

? Showerheads of greater efficiency will save $6,546 and 859,000 gallons annually.

? Guest have been offered the option of reusing their towels and linens when staying more than one night. Projected savings are $4,000 annually.

Comments

This case includes savings that are well known and some that are innovative. Some of the reasons the program has been successful are:

? Everyone in the hotel participates in the program and can contribute from within their job responsibilities. Thus, the power of each individual to contribute in a positive way is harnessed.

? Small savings are as important as big ones. This recognizes that small savings add up and creates a culture that values contributions at all levels of the organization and of any size. The cumulative effect of many small acts of environmental impact reduction may not be quantifiable, but it may be significant.

Carter Holt Harvey Tissue is a pulp and paper manufacturing company in New Zealand which certified under ISO 14001.

For the last 10 years we have been working at continual (environmental) improvement. We established back in 1984 a programme of water reduction and progressively reduced usage a bit at a time. The consequence is that now we have reduced water usage by 55% since that time and plan to be down by 60% by 2000. This has resulted in considerable cost savings from:

· reduced fibre loss at market value of pulp (50% less)

· energy savings (15% less)

· water costs (55% less)

· less waste fibre disposal costs (50% less)

· increased productivity on the paper machines from more consistent back water characteristics

· less chemical usage due to less loss in the waste water.

We have been reduced solid waste that goes to land fill by over 30%. Our plan is for a zero waste to land fill. Even if this is not fully realized, the effect of this will be to ensure that we probably will never need to obtain another land fill site. The cost saving of not having to do that is huge and runs into several millions, not to mention the PR benefits.

We are also going to land treatment, irrigation, which is expected to have benefits in afforestation by reducing stress from drought conditions and by replacing nutrients in the soil. It is expected that the trees will grow more uniformly through having a steady water supply. This is peculiar to our volcanic ash soil. We treat the sewage from the local town through our effluent treatment plant and that benefits the community and gives us nutrients, thereby reducing impact on the environment. It also saves us having to add nutrients to our treatment plant with a consequential cost saving.

ISO 14001 just documented the procedures we already had in place, so on its own it is not responsible for any savings. In the future however, it may result in considerable savings by reducing the cost of obtaining discharge permits and enabling the company to obtain longer term permits. It may also reduce the costs of obtaining permits because there could be less opposition to any permit sought and hence less legal procedures to be pursued. These cost savings are seen as being quite large long term.

.

The guiding principle of Welcomgroup are ?Reduce, Reuse and Recycle?.

ITC recognises its responsibilities towards maintaining a greener and a healthier environment. In this regard, WelcomEnviron , a multifaceted environment programme was started in order to propagate environmental causes in the cities where Welcomgroup?s hotels are located. Each hotel has its own programme, encompassing local participation, creating awareness among employees and internal conservation through energy-saving gadgets and environment-friendly materials. In fact, New Delhi?s Maurya Sheraton was the first hotel to use landscaping as an element of environment deisgn, install solar heating and take measures to conserve and recycle water. While faucets and taps are automatic, hotel guests too are encouraged to save water and power whenever possible. It was the first hotel in the country to install an effluent treatment plant through which waste water is treated and used for the hotel gardens. In 1993, American Express and the International Hotel Association presented the Diploma of Excellence to Welcomgroup Maurya Sheraton Hotel and Towers for its significant contribution towards finding pollution solutions.

The Welcomgroup Maurya Sheraton Hotel & Towers is the first and only hotel in India, and perhaps even in Asia to set up a core group called WELCOMENVIRON, with the aim of channelising its efforts in tackling environment issues. Step by step, beginning with greening the environment, tacking measures to reduce and prevent the generation of waste, recycling it and disposing it of safely. The Maurya has been the pioneer in environmental conservation and protection in the hospitality industry.

The main objective was to evolve perspectives on environmental protection. The management worked towards formulation of environmentally sound development, strategies, management practices, generate civic responsibility and undertake such projects to generate Environment Protection Awareness. All projects are planned and executed with the resources available with the management.

The main initiatives carried out by the hotel are:

Conservation of electricity and Energy

· Infra red sensors installed in all rooms.

· Photocells for garden and perimeter pathway lights.

· Timer operated lights for corridors.

· Replacement of conventional ballast by electronic ballast.

· PL lamps in place of conventional lamps wherever possible.

· Electronic individual transformers for 50watt-12V halogen lamps.

· Installation of heat reclaim machine with ESP facilities for better air conditioning at a minimum cost.

· Timer operated fresh air units for electricity consumption.

· Optimum defrosting systems for cold storage’s and deep freezers.

In the area of Fuel

· Utilisation of flash steam for generating hot water.

· PID controller for round the clock intelligent hot water control.

· Co-generation – generating steam from waste heat to run airconditioners using absorption technologies.

· Pre-heating of cool air to the boiler from generator room.

· Usage of fuel additives in fuel oil for total combustion.

· Usage of energy efficient insulation material Hysil has provided for sweat free tandoors in Bukhara.

· Partial hot water generation by Heat Reclaim Machine at zero cost.

In the area of Water

· An Effluent Treatment Plant to recycle the water of the kitchen and laundry has been set-up.

· Recycled water used for water bodies and horticulture.

· Installation of pressure reducing valves.

· Setting up of Submersible Pumps for all borewells.

· Auto Flushing System for all public areas.

Cooking Oil

· Cooking oil is recycled to manufacture soap/detergents.

Air Quality

· Ozonisers installed in guest rooms and offices.

· Installation of Wet Scrubbers whereby the exhaust of generators, boilers and kitchens are treated by passing through pollution control equipment so as to ensure that it is well within the prescribed limits of the Pollution Board.

Miscellaneous

· Setting up of Hygiene Kiosks in the kitchens for germ free ultrasonic cleaning of hands and to ensure optimum usage of water.

· Plastic laundry bags and carry away bags replaced with cloth and recycled/agri-waste paper bags respectively.

· A Green Brigade which looks after the horticultural aspects of environment by creating a `green corner’ in the lobby with environmental messages, horticultural layouts and water bodies near pollution points.