Green light for company's environmental standards

A North East manufacturer has introduced stringent environmental standards in its Newton Aycliffe factory to achieve internationally recognised certification.

Plastic injection moulding specialist, Formula Plastics, has been certified with the environmental management system, ISO14001. The standard recognises organisations which have introduced a comprehensive environmental management system to reduce both waste and energy use. Formula Plastics, which manufactures components for the automotive, lighting and electronics industries, has analysed every part of its operations to set targets and measure its impact on the environment. The management team then reviews and responds to this data to make sure the business keeps improving its green credentials.

So far Formula Plastics has:

• switched to LED lighting, reducing power consumption by 40%

• reduced scrap by 30%

• introduced methods to further separate waste and increase recycling

• specified new machines with energy savings of between 50 and 60%

Managing director, James Goodliffe, said: “This is an important achievement in our long term growth plans. It demonstrates our commitment to improving the efficient use of resources and reducing waste across the business.”

The company worked with BSI, the business standards company, for ten months, before achieving certification. Internally the process was led by quality director, Graeme Lea: “This was a unique journey for me as it was the first ISO standard that I have introduced from the pre-assessment audit right through to the final stage audit and certification. Everyone within the company has bought into the process which has made the changes much easier to implement.

“I had invaluable support from BSI, with clear guidelines and input at every stage. This is a continuous process for us, and we will be monitoring our environmental performance to keep making the business as green as we can.”

Managing director, James Goodliffe, said: “Graeme’s hard work, and the support of the whole staff team, have led to Formula Plastics achieving this high standard. As we continue to expand our moulding capacity we will be starting to work towards ISO/TS16949 certification, the global quality standard for the automotive industry, further demonstrating our commitment to delivering best practice.”