Savings all round

UK manufacturers and engineers have much to gain by improving their environmental performance — not least the commercial benefits of becoming more resource-efficient, such as valuable cost savings and streamlined operations.

Businesses are also under increasing pressure to demonstrate their commitment to the environment, whether due to strict rules on legislative compliance and maintaining industry best practice or from growing customer and shareholder expectations.

Historically, many companies have relied on an 'ad hoc' approach to managing resource efficiency. Areas such as raw materials use, solid waste, effluent, water use and energy efficiency have been dealt with in isolation. However, there are real financial and operational advantages to developing a more integrated approach to this activity.

One technique is to develop an environmental management system (EMS) — a structured framework for managing and monitoring environmental performance and ensuring compliance with legislation.

It is a flexible, internal management tool and companies can choose to develop a bespoke system or follow the requirements of a national or international standard such as ISO14001 or EMAS.