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newsletter winter 2002 |
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ATMI Contains Costs with ISO 14001
ISO 14001
proves successful for ATMI's Minneapolis manufacturing site,
reducing water use and waste, saving the company $103,000.
ATMI Incorporated's
facility in Minneapolis manufactures chemical container systems
featuring certified clean, collapsible inner liners inside
HDPE or stainless steel containers allowing for 99 percent
use of chemicals. The product is nearly 100 percent reusable
or recyclable. Believing that a common, efficient system for
managing risk and reducing waste across the entire company
was needed, ATMI corporate headquarters began implementing
ISO 14001—an internationally recognized environmental
management system (EMS)—in its nine U.S. facilities.
The 110-employee
manufacturing facility, ATMI Packaging, Inc., saw ISO 14001
as one more way to make its product and production activities
have the least impact on the environment. When Facilities
Engineering Coordinator, Chris Delzer learned that the company
was going for ISO 14001 certification he knew it would boost
ATMI's bottom line and would reduce the company's impact on
the environment.
Implementation
In mid-1999, ATMI Packaging began work on the ISO 14001 process.
The company worked with its corporate parent to develop an
environmental policy statement and established an ISO 14001
core team to work with management on implementing and maintaining
the EMS.
"Without
the support of all of management the environmental management
system would not work," Delzer noted. He also gives much
of the credit to production workers, "They do a lot of
the work to make things happen." Delzer stressed that
companies looking to implement ISO 14001 need to know that
an EMS cannot function without the full participation of both
employees and management.
Many other
factors were key to the success of ATMI Packaging's EMS including
a sound knowledge of environmental regulations affecting the
company and clear communication of environmental policies
and procedures to all employees.
Success
With the help of numbers compiled by Delzer from some of the
EMS projects, the core team was able to show a clear return
on their continued efforts. Although ISO 14001 took a lot
of work to implement, it is paying off.
As a result
of its EMS and the efforts of the ISO 14001 core team, this
ATMI facility reduced the amount of waste sent to landfills
by 78 tons in 2001, saving $30,000. The facility reduced water
use by 47 percent through its new water conservation program
for an anticipated savings of $73,000.
Delzer
knows that the EMS is successful because ATMI is continuously
looking for ways to improve practices to limit its impact
on the environment.
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