GLASSOLUTIONS Has Taken an Important Step Towards Greener Business with ISO 14001

The globally recognised certification gives customers, stakeholders and neighbouring communities the assurance of environmental compliance and resource efficiency throughout the operations of GLASSOLUTIONS.  It reflects the investment the company has made over several years to implement the most efficient and safest working practices, and demonstrates a commitment to optimum sustainability at every stage of the glass and glazing supply chain.

One the key issues tackled as part of the ISO 14001 certification process was energy consumption – cutting usage and whole-business CO2 emissions.  Even with increased manufacturing volumes, this is already proving successful with electricity usage by GLASSOLUTIONS reduced by more than 5% in the first quarter of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010.

Great strides have also been taken by GLASSOLUTIONS to reduce waste, raw materials and water usage at all its 25 UK sites.  Water efficiency was identified as an extremely important sustainability step to help local communities in water stressed areas, such as London and the South East, maximise water availability and avoid future usage restrictions.

Simon Saffin, sustainability and environment manager at GLASSOLUTIONS says, "ISO 14001 certification is an important milestone in our long term sustainability strategy which fully reflects the aims of our parent company Saint-Gobain Group.  It's vital that we have formalised systems in place so we can maintain our responsible role in the communities in which we operate and continuously improve what we do."

"The extent to which GLASSOLUTIONS personnel have embraced sustainability has been tremendous.  Internally, the processes we have all been through to secure ISO 14001 certification have had a powerful impact and engendered a much more environmentally-aware mindset, both inside and outside the workplace."

ISO 14001 emerged from a framework set of environmental management standards produced at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.  The standard is now used by more than a quarter of a million organisations worldwide and it is widely admired and respected as part of a strategy to protect the environment.