Since July 30, 1998, Republic Metals Corporation has been assessed and registered by 
Advanced Waste Management (AWM) as conforming to the requirements of the ISO 14001 standards. 
Proof of our active registration status can be found here.

Benefits of the ISO 14000 family of International Standards

Section I - Business

Business today is not just about selling a product or service to a customer around the corner. In the rapid evolution to a global market-place, having a set of common rules is critical to facilitating trade.

At the same time, these rules have to be flexible enough to be as applicable to a company in Hokkaido, Japan or Salvador, Brazil, as they are for one in San Francisco, USA, or Reykjavik, Iceland. Increasingly in this single world market, an organization needs to be able to demonstrate sound business management that includes concern for the environment.

There is growing evidence that this results in advantages in financing, insurance, marketing, regulatory, and other areas of operations. An Environmental Management System (EMS) provides a solid framework for meeting environmental challenges and realizing the above benefits. The International Standard ISO 14001 is used as a model for implementing an EMS by nearly 37 000 organizations in 112 countries at the end of 2001.

There are many reasons for implementing an EMS. Businesses recognize that a focus on “command and control ” by itself does not provide the bottom line results desired.

ISO 14001 has proven to be a useful tool to evolve from maintaining regulatory compliance to a position of improved productivity and enhanced competitive advantage. There is mounting evidence that companies which manage not only the standard economic factors but also the environmental and social factors affecting their business show financial performance superior to those which fail to manage all three.

Furthermore, experience has shown that ISO 14001 is a framework that inspires and channels the creativity of all members of an organization, making them active agents of change promoting environmental protection, resource conservation and improved efficiencies. When all members in an organization are challenged to think differently, it leads to the creation of innovative products and services. Innovation is a primary economic driver of economic growth. This makes ISO 14001 a powerful tool in which to invest.

How quickly and how effective the return for investment by an organization in ISO 14001 occurs is a function of a variety of conditions that include: the status and level of sophistication of its existing management system ! the degree of environmental challenge it faces, including the past, present and future situations ; the amount and quality of resources it has access to, both internally or externally; its state of preparedness – such as existing environmental management practices ; the knowledge, skill and ability of its staff with responsibilities relating to environmental management and their relationship with those in other departments; Environmental Management –  the expectations that stakeholders have in relation to the EMS ; the current status of compliance with legal requirements; other requirements to which the organization may have made a commitment, and the level of verification required by the organization to meet market requirements or the expectations of stakeholders.

By design, ISO 14001 is flexible : it is as applicable to the small business as it is to the multi-national organization, enabling access to a global market-place where business and environmental performance go hand in hand.

Section II - Environmental

In today’s global economy, organizations are increasingly called upon to demonstrate sound management of economic, social and environmental issues. Evidence suggests that a focus on this “triple bottom line” results in advantages in financing, insurance, marketing, regulatory treatment, and other areas.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a structured approach to addressing the environmental bottom line. ISO 14001 is the world’s most recognized EMS framework – accepted from Argentina to Zimbabwe – that helps organizations both to manage better the impact of their activities on the environment and to demonstrate sound environmental management.

Since the publication of ISO 14001, many companies have implemented the standard and, by the end of 2001, nearly 37 000 organizations in 112 countries had their EMS certified as conforming to its requirements. ISO 14001 is designed to be flexible enough to be applied to any sized organization in both the private and public sectors. The bottom line is that certification to ISO 14001 can improve environmental management and enables equal access to a growing “green” marketplace.

ISO 14001 is also the starting point for companies that want to use other environmental management tools developed by ISO/TC 207. For example, ISO 14004 provides additional guidance and useful explanations and complements ISO14001. Of course, an EMS will only be of maximum benefit if it is properly implemented.

Environmental audits are important tools for assessing whether an EMS is properly implemented and maintained. The new auditing standard, ISO 19011, is equally useful for EMS and quality management system audits. It provides guidance on principles of auditing, managing audit programs, the conduct of audits and on the competence of auditors. ISO 19011 replaces the ISO 14010, ISO 14011 and ISO 14012 first generation of environmental auditing standards in the ISO 14000 family.

Organizations implementing ISO 14001 can expect to improve their environmental performance. ISO 14031 provides guidance on how an organization can evaluate its environmental performance. The standard also addresses the selection of suitable performance indicators, so that performance can be assessed against criteria set by management. This sort of information can be used as a basis for internal and external reporting on environmental performance.

Communication on the environmental aspects of products and services is an important way to use market forces to influence environmental improvement. Truthful and accurate information provides the basis on which consumers can make informed purchasing decisions. The ISO 14020 series of standards address a range of different approaches to environmental labels and declarations, including self-declared environmental claims, eco-labels (seals of approval) and quantified environmental information about products and services.

ISO 14001 addresses not only the environmental aspects of an organization’s processes, but also those of its products and services. Therefore ISO/TC 207 developed additional tools to assist in addressing such aspects. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool for identifying and evaluating the environmental aspects of products and services from the “ cradle to the grave ” : from the extraction of resource inputs to the eventual disposal of the product or its waste. The ISO 14040 standards give guidelines on the principles and conduct of LCA studies that provide an organization with information on how to reduce the overall environmental impact of its products and services ISO/TR 14064 is another tool ; it allows environmental aspects to be taken in account in the design and development of products.