Express Data earns green stripes

Express Data claims to have become the first Australian distributor to pass ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) certification.

The ISO14001:2004 standard specifies requirements for organisations wanting an EMS and provides guidance for those committing to environmentally-friendly business operations. It covers compliance, impact of business activities, products and services.

“This isn’t about having a weekend of planting trees and feeling good about ourselves,” Express Data CEO, Ross Cochrane in a statement. “It’s a structured approach to reducing the impact Express Data has on the environment.”

The task took the distributor six months to complete and involved writing up an extensive green policy to match the ISO standard, employee workshops to assess how the company’s activities impact the environment, and devising programs around reducing that impact.

The EMS also needed to be integrated into Express Data’s quality management system. BSI Group performed documentation and on-site auditing and issued the certification to the distributor in October.

Express Data productivity and training manager, Kellie Winning, is in charge of all environmental matters and oversaw the certification process. The certification was part of ongoing efforts to make the company more green friendly with minimal effects on staff productivity, she said.

“It was about making sure there was a holistic approach and that green became part of everyone’s day-to-day activities without adding on extra work,” she said. “It’s about little things that contribute to the big picture, such as double sided-printing, which was easy to do.”

Legislative compliance is also part of the ISO standard and Express Data considered it a valuable component as certification prepares the distributor for the Government’s proposed ETS).

While it was important to set an example, Winning was more concerned about facilitating its reseller base to get in on the green action.

“There are initiatives planned to ensure our resellers are involved in our EMS program, so something like a take-back program to manage e-waste which we are interested in rolling out across the channel,” she said.

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