Lifecycle Perspectives in the ISO 14001 Certification Process – What Does It Mean?

Environmental challenges become one of the most concerning trends in the world these days. It further encourages companies to follow proper measures to reduce their environmental impacts and carbon footprints. Implementing the latest ISO 14001 standard is one of the best ways to do so. The ISO 14001 standard is globally recognized for EMS (Environmental Management Systems). Getting ISO 14001 certified demonstrates your firm’s environmental responsibility. And, lifecycle perspective of the products your organization produces is one of the most fundamental ISO 14001 changes. It’s significantly more “prescriptive” than the ISO 14001 certification process itself.

So, what is this “lifecycle perspective” in the environmental context? What steps your company should take to ensure ISO 14001 compliance? Let’s discuss all these in the following blog post.

What does “lifecycle perspective” really mean in ISO 14001?

As per the latest ISO 14001 standard, companies must control the way their services and products are designed, produced, consumed, distributed, and disposed of without ignoring their impacts on the environment throughout the products’ lifecycle.

Organizations must be aware of potential environmental impacts at every stage of a product’s life and take full responsibility to ensure that the impact is as small as possible at every stage of that lifecycle.

How can you meet the “lifecycle” requirements in your brand’s EMS?

Identifying potential environmental impacts and taking appropriate actions to mitigate them is a critical part of your organization’s EMS.

Besides tackling and mitigating these aspects, you must also consider the “lifecycle perspective” of the products your brand manufactures and delivers.

The following is a step-by-step guide:

1.During Product Designing and Developing

In this phase, organizations should carefully examine lots of things, including sourcing of parts.You must evaluate whether any components contain SVHCs (substances of very high concern). If yes, then you must manage these to ensure that they comply with the environmental legislation in your region.

Besides this, you must check whether the components meet the mineral conflict requirements in your region. It will help you ensure that you fully understand what your components contain and that you are not unduly harming the environment or supporting illegal regimes in other countries by sourcing parts without proper understanding and knowledge.

2.During Product Manufacturing

Your organization should consider many environmental aspects during this phase.

It won’t only help you reduce your brand’s environmental impacts but also save the organization’s capital.

Streamlining manufacturing procedures, ensuring that your supply chain also practices the same habits, and reducing power consumption can benefit your organization hugely.

3.During Product Post-Manufacturing

The post-manufacture phase is when your customer has purchased the products and taken them home.

You should evaluate whether you have provided proper information in the user guide, ensuring that your product can be used power-efficiently or not.

You should also check and ensure whether you have provided options to your customers to make your products possible to upgrade or not.

It can further increase the “lifecycle” of the product and provide a welcome business opportunity for your organization.

4.During Product Disposal

During the last phase of the “lifecycle” of your product, you must ensure your product guide or website offers relevant information for the end users to understand the best way to dispose of your products or recycle them.

You may operate a “return for disposal” program, based on several factors, like your location, the weight and type of your products, and so forth.

The “lifecycle perspective” demonstrates that your company has taken the ultimate responsibility to ensure that they take all reasonable measures to prevent the products from having a damaging impact on the environment at the last phase, i.e., the disposal stage of the product.

How to find the right third-party ISO 14001 auditing firm for your organization?

Environmental responsibility has become a growing concern in today’s business world.

Therefore, you may find a lot of third-party ISO 14001 auditing firms across the country.

However, not every one of them is the same even though they offer similar services.

Thus, you must consider the following when looking for one:

• Expertise and reputation of the team

• Understanding of the latest ISO 14001 standard

• Knowledge of the latest ISO 14001 requirements and guidelines

• Estimated budget and timeline for the ISO 14001 certification process

• ISO certifications and qualifications of the third-party ISO 14001 standard auditors

• Customer testimonials and portfolio on the ISO 14001 EMS implementation

Take away

Wondering how to improve your brand’s environmental responsibility and gain more customers? There are lots of ways you can do so. However, implementing the latest ISO 14001 standard would be one of the best and most efficient methods. Getting ISO 14001 certified can open lots of doors when it comes to reducing environmental impacts and carbon footprint. However, you must learn and understand the “lifecycle perspective” before preparing your organization for the latest ISO 14001 certification process.