For the 9th consecutive year, ECT has obtained ISO 14001 certification.
The scope of certification covers the Development, Quality, Operations and Human Resources departments. This means that all ECT sites recovering materials are certified. This is the result of the commitment of the departments concerned. And the materialization of requirements to prevent and reduce the impact of our activity on the environment.
Since November 2020, Anaïs AUBRÉE has joined ECT as Environmental Project Manager. In this capacity, she oversees the management of the 14001 standard. She outlines the contours.
What are the challenges of ISO 14001 certification for ECT?
ECT recovers excavated soil from construction sites in the Paris region. Our business is part of a circular economy dynamic. This is why the two major challenges of certification for ECT are :
- Demonstrate to stakeholders our commitment to environmental protection
How? By reinforcing the chain of traceability of the quality of the materials we reuse. On our active sites, by reclaiming land for numerous useful and concerted development projects. In the design phase, by committing to biodiversity-friendly and landscape-friendly developments. At the same time, our R&D is focused on the recycling of excavated material. Urbafertil, ECT’s fertile substrate, is a successful demonstration of this.
- Assessing the impact of our business on the environment
This impact analysis enables us to implement control and improvement actions. At our land reclamation sites, for example, we will be measuring air quality and the noise impact of truck traffic and earth-moving machinery.
How do you obtain ISO 14001 certification?
The aim is to implement an environmental approach within the company, based on a management system. Our Environmental Management System (EMS) complies with the requirements of ISO 14001 version 2015. An accredited certification body verifies that our activities and sites comply with these requirements. INTERTEK is ECT’s certification body. Each certificate is valid for a 3-year cycle, audited annually.
What does your role at ECT entail?
It’s an exciting mission! The environmental management system must be managed and continually adapted to the business. In conjunction with the departments concerned, indicators and corrective actions must be put in place. My aim is to make ECT part of a perpetual process of continuous improvement: deploying our commitments and harmonizing our best practices. The company has also begun thinking about an ecosystem-based assessment of the impact of its projects. Bringing this thinking together with our EMS is a real challenge.
