Environmental certification is a process related to ensuring environmental safety of various types of public activities. The main document regulating the process of environmental protection legally is the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection”, in particular article 31, which defines this term.
In the current conditions, when the environmental problem is actively gaining its relevance, the presence of such an important process as environmental certification helps various manufacturers to achieve competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets. This is important because people and partner companies trust more responsible and careful manufacturers.
Object Types
In America, Russia and the EU countries, international standards are widespread, which many states adhere to in accordance with general agreements. In particular, the following environmental certification objects that somehow affect the environment fall under this process:
- natural heritage sites, reserves;
- environmentally significant production facilities, plants, nuclear power plants, etc .;
- technologies aimed at protecting the environment;
- environmental media, legislative documents, acts, etc.
This system covers all kinds of objects that affect the environment. Objects can be assigned a certain level of quality, which indicates which activity the given element is involved in and what functions it performs. Modern objects of environmental certification are closely related to scientific discoveries.
The relevance of ecology in business
Modern enterprises value their reputation very much. The prestige of partnership work and the results of activities depend on the image. Over the past twenty years, the ecological sphere of the planet has become heavily clogged due to waste released by plants into the atmosphere or water. In this regard, many scientific organizations have proposed many methods of nature conservation. Ecological technologies, which came to replace the more dangerous ones, were adopted by many companies, and after that they became the main legal requirement for passing the certification process.
Following from the fact that nature conservation is becoming a cornerstone of many enterprises, environmental certification is becoming an element of enterprises' competitiveness in front of each other.
Compliance with the principle of social responsibility attracts more partners, investors and customers, and the environmental problem has long become a public one. Every businessman should consider this fact.
Sign of environmental certification
The process in question carries a certain sequence of actions. The environmental certification procedure includes, among other things, an eco-label. This is a unique sign that is issued to an object after certification and confirms compliance with the necessary environmental requirements and standards adopted at international conferences. Such meetings are held almost every year, starting from the 90s of the last century, since there are really many problems on the agenda.
In particular, the list of competencies of a natural object includes the rules of an interstate system of standards. In different countries, eco-signs may vary, but for the most part they carry the same meaning. Since 1996, the international standard ISO 14 000 has been developed, based on European environmental legislation. Environmental standardization and certification has become a separate category in this system.
Eco-labeling can be called a set of environmental information about goods, processes or services that are part of their labeling and / or other documentation. There are two generally accepted definitions of eco-labeling. It is general and advertising. The general definition includes a list of information used to protect the environment. The advertising concept also includes the information that is used to supply customers and other interested parties with true information about the essence of the objects studied in this area.
The emergence and use of eco-signs (eco-markers) of this type was due to the following important principles:
- High sensitivity of the inhabitants of the planet to environmental problems and the protection of wildlife.
- The desire of people to organize conditions conducive to the creation, development and use of products that do not pollute the environment, such as biofuels, biodegradable packages , etc.
- The ability to use environmentally friendly technologies as a major factor in competition.
Key goal
This system is aimed at business. Entrepreneurs should see one of the main goals of their activity in preserving the purity of nature. This is the whole point and procedure for certification of environmental management. In Western Europe, compliance with environmental standards is mandatory and much more developed than, for example, in Russia.
Core standards
Provided that the laws provided by this system are widespread throughout Europe, the standards may not be similar to each other. There are several types of environmental certification, many of them differ from each other not only in time of entry into force, but also in terms of requirements:
- ISO 9001. One of several generally accepted standards that applies to products manufactured in modern factories, the activities that they carry out, and the stages of this activity, varying in degree of environmental impact.
- ISO 14000. This standard contains a wider list of elements to which certification is extended. They come in three types: general standards, valuation standards, and product-oriented standards. Therefore, all of the above facilities can be certified both on a mandatory and on a voluntary basis.
In order for a company to fully go through this procedure, it must meet the requirements of ecology, environmental safety, as well as the conservation of biological diversity in the external sphere with which it interacts.
The constituent elements of environmental information
Safety information reports the level of increased or reduced harmfulness to the environment of the products in general or their special characteristics.
Common signs of environmental certification, often used at the moment to determine the level of environmental threat of goods and their packaging, can be divided into approximately three types:
- signs informing about the harmlessness of goods for life and health, as well as for nature;
- signs indicating the possibility of re-processing or use of packaging waste or goods;
- signs that indicate that the product does not comply with environmental requirements during transportation, overexposure, or use.
The most accepted in the field of environmental certification is precisely the German experience. What does it mean? In Germany, environmental certification started in 1974. A few years later, an environmental sign was established - the ancestor of the current Blue Angel symbol known in Europe.
Sign "Blue Angel"
Further development of the environmental certification system with the Blue Angel sign is in many ways keeping pace with the UN environmental program. Products marked with this symbol comply with the established system of requirements guaranteeing its biological reliability. For example, a machine to which an eco-label is assigned is equipped with reliable protection against exhausts and does not pollute the atmosphere.
Quite often, the Blue Angel sign can be seen on different monitors. In such a situation, the monitor must comply with the Energy Star standard, which regulates power saving, and be equipped with a block design to simplify the processes of improvement and repair. The available chemical composition of the elements included in the structure of the monitor must meet certain criteria. In this case, the radiation level should be minimal.
The manufacturer should also be ready to accept the goods back after the expiration of the service life for destruction or processing. Certification with the Blue Angel symbol does not include agricultural products, medicines, household chemicals, etc.
European standards: detailed analysis
As for the unified system of global eco-certification, the European Community emphasizes its voluntariness and openness to all countries, which also does not exclude the possibility that mandatory environmental certification of products takes place. In addition, since 1993, the EU Directive has been distributed, defining the benefits of biologically certified products supplied to world markets. In accordance with it, their price can be increased several times. The decision on the assignment of environmental markers is made by authorized departments of the EU countries, which preliminary assess the environmental friendliness of a product.
The principles of EU environmental certification are based on precautionary measures: environmental damage should be prevented first of all by destroying the sources of pollution. The effectiveness of such a process directly depends on the safety of a product, service, process or other element that affects the protection of nature. The eco-certification rules themselves should prevail in nature over those parameters that are contained in the requirements. And this is important.
This rule can be identified on the basis of extensive public research, which allows us to determine the requirements for each specific group of products depending on the degree of their impact on the environment. The approved bulletin of the EU Commission often voices safety requirements that correspond to each phase of the life cycle of a certified product, as mentioned earlier.
Selection of an object for analysis
The establishment of product groups, which should be identified and labeled with the EU eco-label, and the criteria for their evaluation are entrusted to the authorized government bodies of EU members, in conjunction with business representatives, client groups, independent scientists, environmental organizations, which gather at the regional level at a special scientific forum.
Practical work on the dissemination of the global environmental symbol is carried out at the international level, where biological tests for compliance with the approved rules are carried out and a conclusion is made on the assignment of an environmental symbol.
Exceptions and Features
The European eco-label does not include food, beverages and pharmaceutical items. They are labeled only with products that include impurities and preparations that are listed in the hazardous substances section of the documentation. The color of the sign may change from green to blue or dark against a light background. The eco-sign is widely used in marketing and promotes the promotion of goods on the market, and also affects the financial benefits of the manufacturer.
World certification experience
In world practice, one can also note the growth trend of certain requirements for the properties of products that correspond to general ideas about its safety and reliability. For example, in the case of certain energy saving measures, companies wish to mark their product accordingly.
Waste Management Standardization
The complexity of eliminating industrial and household waste is one of the important problems of modern society. One of the main sources of household waste is used packaging resources, which is quite relevant in many countries.
Differences between countries
We must not forget that states have different attitudes to environmental problems, which can cause neighbors to respond. For example, Denmark took a separate position in Europe on the protection of nature, due to its territorial proximity to the most “dirty” countries in Europe. This state has a law that controls the operation and production of chemical goods and their derivatives.
It also contains product requirements. The Danish Parliament respects the EU principles in the field of ecology, unlike many neighbors, for example, Germany, where people consider eco-certification to be a purely personal matter of any country. Thus, it can be seen that certification has helped many countries make a breakthrough in the environment, but there are still problems.