Management Systems Development, Implementation and Auditing

One of our core services has always been the provision of assistance with the development of environmental management systems. We now have an enviable reputation of well over a hundred certifications to ISO14001 and/or EMAS, with a 100% first time certification success rate. These range from simple, traditional systems for small single-site companies to complex online multi-site multi-user systems for large multinational groups. We have developed various integrated management systems covering two or more of quality, environment, and health & safety. These are certified to ISO9001:2008, ISO14001:2004 (and/or EMAS) and OHSAS 18001:2007 and can be integrated using the PAS 99 standard. Around three-quarters of the requirements of the three main standards are the same, so integrating them reduces bureaucracy considerably.

Outsourced Environmental Management

Increasingly, we find that client companies require a formal EMS (e.g. as a requirement of legislation, to qualify for tenders or simply to manage environmental performance) but they lack the internal resources to maintain such a system. Our outsourced environmental management service provides a cost-effective way for your company to benefit from having the environmental expertise of our entire team at your disposal as your Environmental Manager.

Legal Compliance Auditing

Ecodyn undertake environmental legal compliance audits which involve an onsite review of an organisation’s compliance with current and pending regulations. We can conduct a full review of compliance or review whether or not the requirements of specific regulations have been met, for example: pollution prevention and control (PPC), waste management, trade effluent discharge consents, packaging regulations, hazardous substances, climate change agreements (CCA), carbon reduction commitment (CRC), WEEE and RoHS. We also provide a legal update service tailored specifically to individual client’s needs.

Environmental Permitting, PPC and Waste Management

Ecodyn has successfully applied for Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permits on behalf of around 70 clients, all “duly made” on first submission. We also act on behalf of client companies to negotiate with environmental regulators, ensuring that regulation and enforcement is appropriate, constructive and consistent across the country. Our ability to take a holistic, unbiased view of materials, processes, facilities, utilities, waste streams and sensitive environmental receptors is invaluable in allowing commercial and environmental concerns to coexist.

Water Licensing

Many of our industrial and agricultural clients have obligations under the Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR) in Scotland and the and we have helped them by completing licence applications on their behalf, assisting with any reporting required and providing onsite advice. We have also helped them develop systems to monitor their water use as well as implement measures to reduce water wastage.

Resource Efficiency

You’ve paid for it, so why waste it, or worse still waste it then pay to dispose of it? Resource efficiency projects have long been one of our main services, usually to manufacturing industry. In these projects, we aim to decouple economic growth from increasing costs and environmental impacts. This is the core of sustainable development: assisting growth in economic prosperity and standard of living while simultaneously reducing environmental impacts and economic costs. Waste minimisation and resource efficiency really amount to the same thing, as far as we are concerned. We look at things from the beginning of the process: if we can help companies to avoid using excess material in the first place, there will be less waste at the end. This service usually involves us using statistical methods to generate a detailed model of mass and utility flows through a process and adding financial information to the mix. From this basis, we can see where the main environmental impacts and financial costs are, and put in place actions to reduce them. Our consultancy business has grown out of providing this sort of support to various industries across the UK and Europe.

Green Design

Reducing the environmental impact of processes is important but over 80% of product-related environmental impacts are determined during the product design phase. For many years we have provided a green design service covering products and packaging solutions. Addressing environmental issues at the design stage helps deliver a ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach which ultimately saves on resources and subsequently reduces the negative impact on the environment of these products. As well as reducing supply chain environmental impacts, the green design process reduces manufacturing costs, improves brand image and reduces the vulnerability of products to shifting environmental pressures.

Life Cycle Assessment

We use life cycle assessment (LCA) in comparative LCA wizards to show off the green credentials of our clients’ products, as part of green design implementation or training, and in stand-alone projects. Increasingly, clients are asking us to use LCA techniques to develop an environmental footprint of their products and services, which they can then use to demonstrate their green credentials relative to the competition.

Statistical Process Control

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Just because this is one of the oldest management platitudes doesn’t make it wrong. We often find that client companies have no idea where simple economic costs are incurred in their processes, never mind environmental impacts. Our service gathers and analyses these data, providing a benchmark and an action plan for improvement.