Waste management company

Is ISO 14001 really the best certification for your particular case?

Everything depends on what your organization need.

Let me try to explain, as a waste management company, I believe your organization has some kind of official qualification issued by a particular relevant authority. With that official qualification a potential client may look to your organization and think something like “OK, this company is officially qualified to do the job of collecting waste”. The point is, why should a particular potential client choose your company among several waste management companies all equally qualified by the same or equivalent particular relevant authority?

What kind of benefits is your organization looking for? Will your brand benefit from being ISO 14001 certified? And from being ISO 9001 certified? If your company is looking for cost reduction, higher efficiency, perhaps ISO 9001 can be recommended. If your company is looking for improving image among community and the job market perhaps even ISO 45001 certification can be recommended.

If your organization decides to go for ISO 14001, basically you have to determine how your organization interacts with the environment while collecting and managing waste. You start by determining the environmental aspects and impacts, the how your organization interacts with the environment:

Each one of these interaction vectors’ is a specific type of environmental aspect.

So, for each type of environmental aspect check where they appear, or can appear, in your organization’s activities products and services. Consider operation under normal, abnormal and emergency situation.

You have also to determine the legislation and regulation applicable to your organization (compliance obligations). From there you determine priorities for improvement:

Them you have to define an environmental policy and objectives. From there, it is implementation by developing action plans to improve the interaction with the environment.

Then, perform an internal audit and the management review. There you can decide if your organization is ready for a certification audit.

You can audit the entire organization or site by site. This should be discussed with potential certification bodies before starting the implementation project, sometimes they have different opinions.

Perhaps the following links can be useful:

• Free webinar on demand - How to use a Documentation Toolkit for the implementation of ISO 14001 - https://advisera.com/14001academy/webinar/how-to-use-a-documentation-toolkit-for-the-implementation-of-iso-14001-free-webinar-on-demand/
• List of ISO 14001 implementation steps - https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2019/08/27/key-iso-14001-benefits-to-customers/nowledgebase/list-of-iso-14001-implementation-steps/
• ISO 14001:2015 Implementation diagram - https://info.advisera.com/14001academy/free-download/iso-14001-2015-implementation-diagram
• Project checklist for ISO 14001 implementation - https://info.advisera.com/14001academy/free-download/project-checklist-for-iso-14001-implementation
• Enroll for free in this course – ISO 14001:2015 Foundations Course - https://advisera.com/training/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course/
• Book – The ISO 14001:2015 Companion - https://advisera.com/books/the-iso-14001-2015-companion/