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Acorn - "a staged approach to Environmental Certification"

Caring for the environment and demonstrating this to customers, shareholders and the local community is viewed as an important feature of responsible management...

Whilst compliance with environmental regulations is the basic minimum, ever growing pressure is starting to change the way industry is looking at its activities.

ISO 14001:2004 is the current environmental management system (EMS) standard, providing a model for companies to follow to create and achieve their environmental policy. Focusing on the issues that really matter, ISO 14001 is designed to help companies achieve consistent environmental regulatory compliance whilst embedding the concept of continuous improvements in environmental performance.

However, whilst you may have a desire to improve your environmental performance, your organisation may not be ready to move to formal ISO certification in the short-term. There can be lots of reasons for this, the most obvious being a lack of resource. But help is at hand in the form of the IEMA backed Acorn Scheme, which provides a staged approach to formal certification. The scheme is broken down into five phases (outlined in BS 8555), and provides a road map to the ultimate implementation of a formal EMS to either ISO 14001 or EMAS. Achievement criteria exist for each stage, with certified recognition of success along the way (following independent assessment). This approach has a number of clear benefits including:

• You can move towards full EMS implementation at your pace, which is ideal for SMEs with limited resources.
• Formal recognition of success throughout the process sends a clear message to customers and stakeholders that you are serious about reducing your company's environmental footprint.
• A listing on the IEMA Acorn Register, which is a valuable data source for potential customers looking for suppliers who have demonstrated environmental improvements.
• Staged implementation will introduce operational efficiencies and expose you to new customers, many of whom stipulate some sort of certification as a condition of supply.

Why Choose VCA as YOUR certification partner?

There are a bewildering number of certification bodies out there but how many of them will have a specialist knowledge of your sector. VCA has extensive experience, which means that we can add real value to the process, from Phase 1 through to ISO 14001 or EMAS certification. Our client base is truly enviable and includes some the industry's key players. All of this might make VCA sound expensive but actually we are one of the most competitive certification bodies around and with no hidden charges, our rates are completely transparent.

Contact any of our offices for more information and a no obligation quote.

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