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The Acorn Scheme is ideal for small companies
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All businesses, regardless of size or sector, need to address the environmental impact of their organisation and look for ways to reduce it in a practical way. The CRC has brought this into sharp focus for the UK’s largest organisations but for SMEs an environmental management system (EMS) is also vital in the modern business environment.
But where to begin? For small companies ISO 14001 may seem like an impossibly large mountain to climb both financially and time-wise, but there is an alternative. The Acorn Scheme administered by IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) enables SMEs to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and continuously reduce their impact.
The scheme provides a practical approach to becoming a more environmentally sustainable business without swallowing up huge amounts of time or money. It is a six-phase approach to environmental certification that enables organisations, regardless of size, to evaluate and improve their environmental performance in accordance with the phases of BS 8555. This can lead to certification to ISO 14001 but small firms that participate in the Acorn Scheme may feel that this is not appropriate for their organisation and that the Acorn Scheme is sufficient.
Six-phase approach
The phases can be tackled incrementally and businesses can take as many stages as they feel appropriate for them. The phases are:
- Commitment and establishing the baseline
- Identifying and ensuring compliance with legal and other requirements
- Developing objectives, targets and programmes
- Implementation and operation of the EMS
- Checking, audit and review
- EMS acknowledgement (getting ISO 14001 and/or EMAS)
There are many benefits to participating in the acorn scheme for SMEs
- Flexibility – registration can proceed at a rate that takes into account the many other pressures and demands that an organisation may be facing.
- Scalability – it is ideal for small to medium sized organisations with a low to moderate risk to the environment. For such companies it may not always be necessary to complete all the phases.
- Improved environmental performance – which can lead to reduced costs, better use of resources and increased business efficiency. Timescales given for environmental improvements are realistic.
- Legal compliance – in a world of ever-increasing environmental law, organisations must be able to identify and respond to relevant legal requirements. Phase 2 of Acorn Scheme focuses on how to identify legal and other regulatory requirements.
- Improved stakeholder relationships – many organisations require their supply chain to demonstrate good environmental management. Recognition under the Acorn Scheme can be used to demonstrate this and can also help SMEs in the tendering process.
Businesses have a range of motivations for participating in the Acorn Scheme – from cost cutting, to enhancing their environmental performance, to the reputational benefits it can bring, to using it as a stepping stone to ISO14001. But all organisations that use the Acorn Scheme enjoy the control they can have over their environmental management system – how far they go and how quickly - to make sustainability work in the way that is best for them in today’s multi faceted business world.
Case study
NQA client Beam is certified to the first phase of the scheme and is planning to work to the third during 2011. Beam is a graphic design consultancy specialising in print and multimedia design for the public and commercial sector. Director Christine Fent explains why the company chose the Acorn Scheme: “Sustainability has always been close to our hearts, that’s why we wanted to formalise our commitment to the environment with an EMS. This is a great scheme with an easy step-by-step guide that seemed right for a business like ours, as we are a small company that intends to grow over the next few years. We felt it is now a good time to set-up a framework that will grow with us.”
The workforce has to constantly keep within the targets set and have their commitment verified on an annual basis. “We have put measures for our staff in place like a staff handbook and environmental score cards. They give a breakdown of individual papers, inks and binding methods on their type of source, their energy impact and their after-life destiny, which allow us to make more sustainable decisions during the design process. We also communicate to our clients and have produced an environmental policy that is available on our website. We measure the amount of paper and ink we use for each project and report back to our clients with environmental certificates,” says Fent.
Crucial to Beam is that the scheme can be tackled at a pace that suits the business and they only need go as far as they feel is appropriate to their business. And it’s something Beam’s client appreciate too, says Fent: “Our public services clients particularly are interested in measuring the environmental impact of each of their projects and the fact that we offer them a variety of environmental options on paper and production methods.”
Max Linnemann is environmental sector manager at NQA.
This article appeared in the June 2011 issue of Greenbuild magazine. For a free subscription click here .
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