EcoCampus - Environmental Management

Eco campus silver logoThe College is in the process of implementing an environmental management system (EMS), using the EcoCampus EMS system.

The aim is to achieve the ISO14001 Environmental Management standard.

What is an environmental management system?

An EMS is a tool for managing an organisation's impact on the environment.

It provides a structured approach to planning and implementing environmental protection measures and establishes a framework for tracking, evaluating and communicating environmental performance.

Having an EMS helps ensure that major environmental risks and liabilities are identified, minimised and managed.

Why are we doing this?

The College has made a commitment, expressed in our Environmental policy to limit the impact of its operations on the environment and has in place a lot of the systems for managing and monitoring environmental performance at a local level, but there is no central system for collating and analysing this information or for recording incidences and corrective and preventative actions taken.

How are we doing this?

The College has joined the EcoCampus scheme, an EMS award scheme for the higher education sector. The EcoCampus project was initially set up and funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in 2005 (HEFCE) and is managed by Nottingham Trent University.

EcoCampus is a four step approach to achieving IS0 14001 – “bronze”, “silver”, “gold” and “platinum” stages.

When the “platinum” stage is reached, we will be ready to arrange for an ISO 14001 audit and accreditation.

EMS uses the Shewhart Cycle, developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. This cycle for continual improvement and quality assurance consists of four steps: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. These steps are commonly abbreviated as PDCA.

PlanDoCheckAct
Establish objectives and processes required to deliver the desired results.  Implement the process developed.  Monitor and evaluate the implemented process by testing the results against the predetermined objectives.  Apply actions necessary for improvement if the results require changes. 
PDCA process

PDCA cycle

What can I do to help?

To help with the implementation of the EMS system:

Members of the College should report any environmental incidents using the Salus reporting system and select “environmental incident” to describe the occurrence.

Don’t worry if you are unsure whether an incident would be best described as health, safety or environment – this will be picked up when the incidents are reviewed by the Safety Team.

The type of reports which we anticipate receiving will relate to emissions to air, land or water and might include:

  • Litter, graffiti, dumping of rubbish and waste
  • Improper storage or disposal of chemical waste (paints, cleaning products etc)
  • Improper treatment, storage or disposal of hazardous waste
  • Noise pollution
  • Smoke and dust pollution
  • Activities impacting wildlife

Depending on the nature of the incident it may be investigated by the Safety Team or your local Building Manager. You will receive feedback on any corrective and preventative action taken.