subject: What is Environmental Compliance? [print this page] If you are starting a business with the aim of selling nationally or internationally, there is a good chance you will be governed by restrictive rules designed to help preserve and protect the environment. Within the European Union the three main regulations are WEEE, Reach and RoHS. The idea of these is to build a strong foundation for governing sustainable development.
With concern for the environment reaching fever pitch, it is tougher than ever for businesses to ensure they are meeting the correct criteria on such sustainable development. Audit trails a mile long and proof of due diligence have become part and parcel of any business and this compliance is slowly becoming an industry in its own right.
The current EU legislation revolves heavily around the disposal of hazardous waste, electrical waste and the restriction of chemicals. But on a smaller scale there is also legislation regarding other environmental factors including air, energy, conservation, water, land, noise and many others. These are not solely connected with industry' or mechanical design but can affect even small businesses on a very large scale. More recently Climate Change legislation has been added to target reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and to make provisions for adapting to climate change. With new regulations being added on a regular basis, the environmental compliance process is a necessary evil, but one that can leave you with a massive headache.
So when starting your company, it is best to talk to professionals for guidance and help. The process is extremely in depth with many hurdles to overcome and with limited internal resources or experience it could become very costly and time consuming. There's also no one size fits all' solution to it as different geographical regions will have different laws governing sales.
But that doesn't mean it is all doom and gloom. Existing companies have to adapt, change and move with these changes in legislation. As a new company it is easy to design processes with these regulations in mind, be that in mechanical design or in other, more subtle areas of the company. It is easy to overlook these at any stage of development or design, so working with an experienced compliance company from the start, while not perhaps imperative, will be massively beneficial. By creating your company as an efficient, environmentally focused outfit from its inception will leave you not only well equipped to deal with compliance, but also, simultaneously championing ecologically friendly industry.
The role of an external company will be to make this process easy for you. With the correct processes in place from day one, you will be able to sail through the compliance process quickly, efficiently and at a negligible overall cost, while enduring that correct compliance is achieved throughout any relevant region.
So saving the world doesn't have to mean your wasting your time. An efficient company can be environmentally effective without having to break the bank or sacrifice its own needs. It's all about the way you go about it.
