Archive for the Environmental Management System (EMS) Category
Tender Support Service: Environmental & Sustainability Criteria
Friday, December 10th, 2010
Does the work you are tendering for require sustainability and environmental responsibility?
There is a fair chance that it will:
- Many ‘blue chip’ corporates with environmental management systems and Corporate Social Responsibility reporting will ask suppliers to demonstrate green credentials in a tender
- The EU and UK ‘Green Public Procurement’ (GPP) policy aims to have at least 50% of all public sector tenders incorporating environmental impact and sustainability as criteria by 2010. State spending accounts for 53% of the overall UK GDP (Daily Mail, 2010), so demonstrating green credentials in tenders could be worth a lot to you.
If such a policy impacts on your tenders, there are two ways of looking at the requirement:
The first approach: What do I need to be compliant with the environmental and sustainability sections of the tender?
The second approach: How can I use good environmental and sustainability practice as a way to differentiate myself against the competition, demonstrate superior value and innovate to win the tender?
E Advantage can support you with either of these approaches but we major towards the second approach – we help organisations to gain competitive advantage from environmental responsibility.
How do we give your tender an environmental advantage?
Well the first step is to meet with you, to understand your circumstance, current practices and areas we could support you with. This takes the form of a brief ‘health check’, a free, informal discussion where introduce ourselves in more detail, ask a set of revealing questions and provide clear advice on moving forwards.
Once commissioned, we would complete some or all of the following tasks, depending on the context of your business:
Stage 1 – Analysis:
We will complete a short, structured and independent study of the current environmental management arrangements, any variances from the tender requirements and best practice.
We will review environmental policy, communication and current approaches to tenders, alongside competitor benchmarking and customer analysis, to identify areas for potential development. We have Chartered Marketers in the team for this very purpose.
Together, these items form a solid base for substantiating current status and recommending the most appropriate courses of action.
Stage 2 – Implementation:
The recommendations from the analysis, once agreed with you, are then put in to action. These may include developing management systems, reducing impacts in areas, green innovation and sustainability communications. We can then pull the appropriate messages into the relevant sections of the tender document with full confidence.
Where necessary, our marketers can support the wider development of the tender documentation and campaign, with sustainable printing and ensuring it best represents the value you have to offer the client. We can be involved as much or as little as you require.
If you want your tender to give you an environmental advantage, or you’re about to request tenders from suppliers and want to understand what you should be looking out for, give E Advantage a call today on 01280 812 909 for your free introductory meeting.
E Advantage bring a unique environmental tender support service to the market through leveraging skills in the following areas:
- Energy and environmental management systems
- Energy assessment and certification
- Environmental consultancy
- Green marketing and sustainability communications
- Strategic marketing and sales, with Chartered Marketers
To find out more about our services, call our friendly team on 01280 812 909
Tags: Environmental and Sustainability Tender Support Services
Posted in Environmental Advantage, Environmental Management System (EMS), Environmental Tender Support Service, Green Marketing
Green Team or Green Champion? Need a hand…
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Are you putting a green team together?
E Advantage can help. We can:
- Structure the kick-off workshop
- Help set objectives
- Work with the team to implement environmental management practices and systems
- Help source funding
- Provide training
- Deliver green marketing communications within the business and externally
- Assist in reporting
- and much more…
For your green team requirements, call us today on 01280 812 909 and we’ll be happy to help
Tags: green champion, green team
Posted in Environmental Management System (EMS), Green Marketing, Latest News
Green Marketing Analyst gets IEMA Certificate.
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Our Green Marketing Analyst, Leigh Tymms has passed his certificate exam and is now an Associate of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. He has also how taken his exam for the NEBOSH National Diploma in Environmental Management and is waiting for the results…so fingers crossed!
Green Marketing
Leigh is a Chartered Marketer. Having consultants with this expertise allows E Advantage, we believe, to add more value to our clients. What makes E Advantage unique is the joined up thinking we bring, not only facilitating environmental compliance but how environmental responsibility can be used to achieve a competitive advantage, engaging stakeholders, launching new propositions, winning and retaining business.
Read more about the environmental competitive advantage of which green marketing plays a significant part.
Substantiating Claims
The other core reason that we believe it is important to have consultants on the team who understand both marketing and environmental considerations is that there is the need to heavily substantiate environmental driven communications and still ensure they are effective. Regulators, such as the Advertising Standards Agency are getting tough on spurious green claims. Examples (the tip of the iceberg) of areas they are particularly focusing their attention are noted on their website as:
- Get your facts right. Don’t exaggerate the environmental benefits of your product: advertising claims should be backed up with documentary evidence
- This is an area where scientific knowledge is developing all the time. Don’t present claims as being universally accepted if the science is inconclusive
- Don’t use pseudo-science, or terms that will not be generally understood by the readers of your ad
- Avoid sweeping or absolute claims such as “environmentally friendly” or “wholly biodegradable”. It’s unlikely that you will be able to prove your product has no environmental impact
- Saying something is ‘locally’ produced should mean exactly that. Shipping goods in from abroad or the other end of the country doesn’t make them ‘locally sourced’.
(ASA, 2007)
Want to talk more about green marketing? Call us today on 01280 812 909
Tags: Environmental Managment, Green Marketing, IEMA, Training
Posted in Environmental Advantage, Environmental Management System (EMS), Green Marketing, Latest News
Environmental Management, Frequently Asked Questions
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
On an almost daily basis, we receive some very good questions, from individuals that are considering whether they require an environmental management system and want more information to help make this decision. We’ve complied a few of these that we hope you will find helpful:
1.What is an environmental management system?
The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) define it as:
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a structured framework for managing an organisation’s significant environmental impacts.
In a world where environmental legislation continues to increase at a rapid pace and is becoming costly to some businesses, an EMS helps them achieve compliance and turn what could otherwise be seen as a burden into an advantage.
An environmental management systems can be certified to a standard, such as BS8555, the Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) and the one we prefer to use for clients at E Advantage, (generally because of its international recognition) ISO 14001. All of the accreditations have many similarities in their approach. You can effectively run a environmental management system in its infancy without such an accreditation – but having one does add more weight to your efforts and helps the benefits to be fully realised.
2. If environmental regulation is costing me, why spend more money implementing an environmental management system?
It’s all about the return on investment that is possible through having a robust environmental management system in place. This comes from several sources:
Reduced liability costs: Environmental legislation is primarily designed to make the polluter pay. Keeping within the regulation using an EMS reduces the potential for fines, prosecution and other exposure.
Employee Engagement: Several studies have shown that employees who understand the organisations approach to reducing its environmental impacts are generally more committed. Financially this can mean a more productive workforce and less costs associated with staff churn.
Cost reductions: Reducing energy, waste, water and raw materials can reduce operational costs hugely. We’ve saved clients over 20% of their utilities bills for example – so the one off investment in building the system will pay back for many years.
Marketing benefits: Win and retain business. Being able to respond to requests for information and demonstrate environmental responsibility to customers and other stakeholders could be worth a significant amount to your business.
3. What’s involved in developing a successful environmental management system?
It can be a complicated process but keeping to the basics, the important areas include:
- Initial site and operational review
- Developing and environmental policy and register of all environmental legislation relevant to the business
- Identification of areas the organisation interacts with, effects or is effected by the environment – the ‘aspects’ and impacts’
- Prioritising the most significant aspects
- Setting targets, objectives and planning the implementation of these, to address the significant aspects and reduce negative impacts on the environment
- Project management, generating awareness, altering ways or working and often a degree of culture change
- Monitoring progress, reporting management information and planning for improvements
- Audits and certification
- The cycle continues on a plan-do-check-act basis
If this has sparked your interest, you have questions you would like answered or want to discuss your environmental management system requirements call us today on 01280 812 909.
Tags: Environmental Management System, iso 14001, Questions
Posted in Environmental Advantage, Environmental Management System (EMS), ISO14001, Latest News