Grundon further strengthen commitment to energy efficiency

Company enhances green credentials with ISO 50001:2011 energy-management certification

GRUNDON Waste Management have secured ISO 50001:2011 energy-management certification across all their sites, reflecting their commitment to delivering products and services with lower embodied carbon, and supporting national and European energy- and carbon-reduction targets.

The certification also puts the company ahead of schedule in complying with the requirements of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), which comes into force on 4 December 2015.

ESOS is a mandatory energy-assessment scheme (carried out by the Environment Agency) for 7,300 UK organizations that meet the qualification criteria and to ensure that the country complies with the requirements of the European Union’s Energy Efficiency Directive.

Companies that qualify, namely those who employ 250 or more staff and have an annual turnover in excess of around £42 million or an annual balance sheet of around £36 million, must carry out ESOS assessments every four years. These assessments are audits of the energy used in the organizations’ processes, buildings and transport, and are used to identify energy-saving measures.

One of the ways of meeting the ESOS requirements is by being certified to ISO 50001:2011 and Grundon decided this was the best option as the company already has an integrated management system in place which satisfies the requirements of ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Management) under the framework guidance of PAS 99 (Integrated Management Systems).

Toni Robinson, compliance manager for Grundon, said: ‘We have always managed our energy and, therefore, adding the specifics of ISO 50001 to our current integrated management system hasn’t been too onerous a task. The effective and efficient management of energy has been embedded into operation of the Grundon business for many years.

‘By achieving this certification we have proven as a business that we manage our energy usage effectively. Every year at Grundon we measure, monitor and manage; setting annual environmental targets and using the indicators to help understand and mitigate the environmental impact of our operations.’