We’re very pleased to announce that Stage One has been awarded BSI EN ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Certification. This certification is very important to us and is key to our aim of building a more sustainable business. It demonstrates our on-going commitment to improving performance across the board, examining our approach to waste and embedding good practice through all departments.

The certification marks the first step in an ongoing process. The ISO 14001 framework now lies at the heart of our everyday operations and will help us meet environmental regulations and set objectives to improve our environmental performance still further. Reducing waste will help improve efficiency across the business and will therefore stand to benefit our clients too, enabling us to advise on and recommend the appropriate re-use of materials and pass on potential cost-savings.

We’ve already started to implement change. Our purchasing team, for example, now have a system in place for the return of waste materials to particular suppliers who can reform and reuse what was previously classified as waste. We’ve also been able to support causes such as Crew for Calais, supplying waste ply for building refugee shelters. We now have a ‘Waste Champion’ in each department across the business, and training has been rolled out to all staff. Special acknowledgement should go to our ISO 14001 team who worked very hard to achieve this certification and, no doubt, will continue to work hard to ensure we further improve our performance.