Environmental Management Certificates can be achieved by SMEs

The Institue of Environmental Management & Assessment's "Acorn Scheme" makes fully accredited enviromental management systems accessible to SMEs, using the six phase approach of British Standard 8555. These phases can be tackled at a pace that suits the organisation's time & budget and implementation of all phases can lead to ISO 14001 or EMAS certification. An organisation can have progress verified at any stage of the 6 phase programme and, following a successful inspection that confirms compliance with the standard and legal requirements, would be issued with an IEMA Acorn Certificate, have its details entered onto the IEMA Acorn Register and would be allowed to use the Acorn logo.

SMEs can gain immediate benefits by registering for the Acorn Scheme, compared with the traditional route to an environmental management system:-

Flexibility

The organisation can move at a pace that suits its business needs. The scheme is ideal for small to medium sized organisations with a low to/ moderate risk to the nvironment. If this applies to your business, it may not be necessary to move through all the phases.  A typical timescale to achieve a fully working EMS is six months.

Improved environmental performance and cost reduction

Environmental impacts and performance are measured from the start.  This allows an rganisation to quickly evaluate where improvement and cost savings can be implemented.

Confidence in knowing the level of legal compliance

The process ensures, at an early stage, that the organisation identifies existing and future legal requirements and has an action plan to fill in any gaps.

Early recognition

Many customers accept that, by Phase three, the organisation has control of its environmental impacts and risks.  This is enough to satisfy their requirement for low environmental risk.

Improve relationships with regulators, neighbours & other "stakeholders"

The organisation can also use Acorn Registration to demonstrate their commitment to sound environmental management to other stakeholders, including suppliers, regulators and the general public.

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