The Environment Agency has launched a new environmental management toolkit to help businesses in the food and drink manufacturing industry – particularly SMEs – improve their environmental performance.
The
toolkit – which provides
businesses with a number of template forms and guidance on managing their environmental impact – is not an environmental management system (EMS) as such.
But, according to the Environment Agency, it will provide practical help to companies that are developing or renewing their EMS procedures.
Jane Salter, head of environment policy at the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) – one of several trade associations supporting the guide – said: "I expect that this simple guide to running a business in an environmentally sustainable way will be popular with our membership.
“Several companies, which are not obliged have a full EMS because they fall out of scope of
Pollution Prevention Control Regulations have asked AIC if such a template tool were available [...] Members are now talking about having good environmental credentials."
Andrew Kuyk, director of sustainability at the Food and Drink Federation, also welcomed the introduction of the toolkit: “Our members include a wide range of companies, both big and small, some of whom do not have the expertise or resources in-house to run complex environmental management systems.
“Access to vital information, guidance, simple templates that can be adapted to any business environment, and easy to use checklists will be highly beneficial to all businesses and will ensure they are on track for achieving a sustainable business.”
One of the particular challenges faced by
food and drink manufacturers is cutting down on the amount of waste they produce – an estimated 2.5 million tonnes in 2008, according to the Environment Agency.
While around 80 per cent of this went for some form of recovery, there is still considerable room for improvement.
“I think that when you are looking at the amount of waste generated – even with that 80 per cent [going for recovery] – with that remaining 20 per cent, we’re still talking about a lot of waste compared to other industries,” said an Environment Agency spokesperson.
It is estimated that every tonne of food waste prevented has the potential to save 4.2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
The toolkit – which incidentally is launched in the week the The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee published its damning report on the UK’s approach to business waste – provides template forms to help companies re-examine their waste management procedures, including whether waste materials can be recovered or reused.
Another particular issue for the food and drink manufacturing sector is pollution control – in 2008, six per cent of all serious pollution incidents recorded by the Environment Agency originated from food and drink manufacturing businesses.
The spokesperson pointed out that much of this pollution is from higher strength organic materials which can have a very damaging effect on water.
She added that a pollution incident is also damaging for a business – not just financially, but in terms of reputation too.
Again, the toolkit aims to reduce the number of such incidents by encouraging businesses to draw up a ‘pollution incident management plan’ which identifies potential risk areas and the take steps needed to minimise the chance of a pollution incident occurring.