On the way to ISO 14001 certification

In 1996, ISO published an EMS standard series 14000 which has been accepted as a reference standard for the certification of environmental management systems. Today, international organisations, states, public corporations and many private companies have implemented such an environmental management system. Most of them acknowledge that their long term survival depends on their ability to cope with the environmental challenge and make of it a real strategic issue. If we take for granted that external certification is expected to become a criteria in customer/supplier relations, now is the time to promote EMS in a company. This paper gives a practical case study addressing the problems a company on its way to ISO 14001 certification generally has to overcome. The case study involves Mitra Power Systems with particular reference to waste management.