In March‚ we successfully achieved the EcoCampus bronze award which is the start of the journey for implementing an environmental management system across the University.
What is an environmental management system?
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a way to minimise our impact on the environment. In 2008 we achieved the international standard (ISO14001) at NOCS and have retained it their ever since. We have now embarked on introducing such a system across the University by implementing a scheme called EcoCampus.
What is EcoCampus?
EcoCampus was designed by the sector for use by the sector and breaks the EMS down into four bite sized chunks; bronze (planning), Silver (Implementation), Gold (Operating) & Platinum (Checking and Correcting). Platinum is equivalent to ISO14001.
We joined up for EcoCampus in October 2011, and have already achieved the bronze award. The external auditor who made the award, said, ‘I have completed your bronze audit and I’m delighted to say that you have passed with just one minor non-conformity. I’ve raised a number of other opportunities for improvement which will further enhance your EMS if they are closed out.
Overall it was one of the easiest audits I have ever done at bronze phase and the legal register is probably the best I’ve seen in a long while. Your site plans were also fantastic and there is clearly a lot of senior management commitment behind what you and your team are trying to achieve. You all deserve a tremendous amount of credit.’
What happens next?
We are not sitting on our laurels and have started planning for the Silver phase of the scheme. This will involve identifying our significant environment risks and a programme to ensure we are managing them.
How will this affect me?
We all have an impact on the environment so ultimately this will affect everyone. As we progress, we will gradually contact others to bring them into the programme.
Where do I find out more information?
There’s some general information on the sustainable development website (http://southampton.likn.co/susdev/ems/index.html) or you can contact Dr Neil Smith ([email protected]) or Adam Tewkesbury ([email protected]) (who are leading the project).