Verified EMAS Statement 16 March 2013 CE Rosser EMAS Verifier

Transcription

1 Verified EMAS Statement 16 March 2013 CE Rosser EMAS Verifier Highland Spring Ltd Ochils Site Environmental Statement 2012

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Purpose & Scope 3 2. Context Highland Spring Background Highland Spring Operation Organic Accreditation 4 3. Environmental Policy Environmental Policy Statement 5 4. Description of EMS Significant Environmental Aspects and Impacts Catchment area boreholes Purchase of raw materials and services Packaging the product Admin Distribution Disposal General to the entire Site 9 5. Objectives and Targets Achievements in 2012 Error! Bookmark not defined Further Information Validation Statement Contact Information 15

3 1. Purpose & Scope Highland Spring Environmental Statement This document is Highland Spring Ltd s eighth annual Environmental Statement and presents its performance for the period January to December 2012 at the Ochils site in Blackford. This environmental statement is part of Highland Spring s overall commitment to ensure that the impacts from all of our activities are fully understood and minimised. 2. Context 2.1 Highland Spring Background Highland Spring was established in 1979 and commenced trading in April The group bottles Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water, in accordance with Scottish Statutory Instrument 2007 No. 435 The Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water Regulations (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (and subsequent amendments) which implement the European Directive 80/777/EEC and its modifying Directives 96/70/EC and 2003/40/EC as well as Council Directive 98/83/EC. The company is based in the village of Blackford, Perthshire, on the edge of the A9 approximately twelve miles from Stirling and twenty from Perth. Highland Spring has two bottling sites in Blackford: the main Highland Spring site with extensive warehouse space and the Gleneagles site (acquired in April 2001), which is used as additional capacity for the main site, bottling mainly glass products. This EMAS statement covers both sites. At these sites Highland Spring employs around 300 staff. The factories are dedicated to the bottling of natural water in modern bottling plants. 2.2 Highland Spring Operation The Spring Water regulations require water to be abstracted from an underground source which is protected against pollution. Rainfall on the upper slopes of the Ochil Hills percolates into the ground and flows through the rock strata downslope to the boreholes. The regulations require that the product must be of potable (drinkable) quality as it emerges from the ground. It is imperative that the risk of pollution of the ground, and therefore the water, is kept to an absolute minimum. On average the water takes 15 years to flow underground from the rock outcrop at the top of the hill to the boreholes. During this time bacteria from the surface die off and the water dissolves minerals from the rock. The water is protected from the surface by a layer of impervious rock or clay above the water bearing rock. Boreholes are used to abstract the clean water from deep underground to the surface. They are constructed in such a way as to prevent water from the surface contaminating the deep groundwater. The water is pumped to the factory through underground stainless steel pipes, and therefore is not exposed to the air or environment at the surface. Page 3

4 4 To ensure that no contaminants can enter the water, Highland Spring Ltd has achieved organic certification for the catchment. This means that no weedkillers, insecticides or fertilisers can be applied to the land. In addition to this Highland Spring does not allow livestock, cultivation or housing on the land because these activities can also pollute the water. Only a very limited number of maintenance vehicles are allowed on the hillside. Highland Spring is happy to see wildlife and walkers on the land as these do not represent a risk to the product. When the water reaches the plant it is filtered to remove any rock particles, but undergoes no treatment before being bottled (except carbonation to produce our range of sparkling products). Still and sparkling water is presented in a wide range of packaging formats in glass and PET (a type of plastic) to suit all consumer needs. 2.3 Organic Accreditation The Soil Association awarded Organic status to the catchment area of 621 hectares in In 2005 we gained approval for another 398 hectares to allow expansion of our sources. In May 2008 another 30 hectares converted to organic. In total we now have 1049 hectares which are organic. Though European and UK legislation does not make provision to gain organic status for water, Highland Spring is demonstrating its commitment to the protection of the sources by gaining certification for the catchment area. As a result of this we are able to include the following phrase on the labels; Naturally filtered through land certified as organic by the Soil Association and drawn from a protected source, Highland Spring is 100% Scottish Natural Spring Water. Page 4

5 3. Environmental Policy Highland Spring Environmental Statement Environmental Policy Statement 3.1 Policy Statement Highland Spring Ltd was formed in 1979 and is located in Blackford, Perthshire. Our modern production facility is located close to the Ochil hills, home to our organically accredited catchment area which ensures the protection of our source of natural water. Employing over 300 staff, we have the biggest UK produced brand of Bottled Water with 95% of our output sold in the UK. The Gleneagles Spring Water plant was acquired in April 2001 and is also located in Blackford. Both production facilities are dedicated to the bottling of natural source water in a range of packaging formats to suit all consumer needs. 1. Highland Spring is committed, without prejudice to the development and sustainability of its business, to minimise the impact of its operations on the environment. 2. Highland Spring will promote practices to ensure that the organisation meets compliance, as a minimum standard, with all regulatory and legislative requirements and will seek to achieve continual improvement in environmental performance. 3. Areas of specialist responsibility are allocated to key personnel to monitor and report on environmental achievement. The Environment Team, led by a senior member of management, will carry out reviews of procedures and trends, setting objectives and targets to effectively control transport and distribution, waste, emissions, discharges, land contamination and the consumption of materials, fuel and energy. Priority will be given to ensuring the protection of the catchment area for our water. 4. In accordance with our continuing policy to protect the integrity of our Spring Water, Natural Mineral Water and Scottish Natural Water sources and catchment area, Highland Spring will endeavour to minimise adverse environmental effects and prevent pollution in daily operations and any new developments of the business. 5. Without compromise or restriction to trade and where economically viable Highland Spring will address product development through the utilisation of recyclable materials. These materials themselves and packaging components may include recyclable materials, provided their use does not prejudice the integrity of the product water. 6. Highland Spring will promote, in its staff training programmes, the implementation of good environmental practices. 7. Highland Spring has an environmental policy, which is reviewed regularly. 8. A copy of this policy, which is subject to review, is available to all company employees, suppliers and customers and to any other interested party. CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Les Montgomery DATE: 1 st March 2013 Page 5

6 6 4. Description of EMS The following environmental management system has been developed to fit into Highland Spring s organisational format and conforms to the ISO14001 standard. The system helps us to achieve continual improvement and control by utilising the following components which are requirements of EMAS: Area Policy: Manual: Procedures: Programme: Audit: Public reporting: Description This states the overall aim and commitments This describes our compliance with EMAS Regulations and ISO Standards and links with the other parts of the system These prescribe how certain activities (those that require control) should be carried out. This includes waste disposal and emergency procedures This is an ongoing programme of objectives and targets to drive improvement Both internal and external audits are used to ensure that the system is working efficiently and that the programme is progressing This statement outlines our significant environmental aspects and current performance The Environmental Delegate manages the system, scheduling yearly management reviews. 4.1 Significant Environmental Aspects and Impacts Catchment area boreholes Installation and use of boreholes Abstraction of groundwater Catchment organic status Pollution of catchment. When installing boreholes we recognise environmental risk to ground water and thus this activity is strictly controlled. Resource Use. Our management regime for the source has been developed with our Consultant Hydrogeologist and ensures that the volumes abstracted have no significant effect on the environment. Highland Spring has been granted an abstraction licence by SEPA (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency). Potential pollution of groundwater. There is no human habitation, farming, or use of pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers on the catchment area. Part of the catchment is certified Organic by the Soil Association since July 2001, with a later additions in 2005 and Boreholes are constructed infrequently thus there is little or no disturbance in the catchment area. This has a positive effect on the land which encourages a wide diversity of flora and fauna. Page 6

7 Purchase of raw materials and services Use and disposal of filters Landfill. There are also various issues associated with materials use (including natural resources use, the energy used during production and transportation issues). Purchase of goods through our assessed supply chain By using vendor rating and a supplier questionnaire it is possible to create a positive effect by encouraging our supplier chain to improve their environmental performance Packaging the product Glass scrap PET Scrap (bottles or PET preforms) and Shrink wrap Oils for compressors Inks for date codes and inks used on the labels are produced off the premises and do not contain VOCs or heavy metals. Waste for recycling. Any glass used on site that is not sent to the customer is recycled. At Gleneagles this does not happen due to the fact that only small amounts of glass are produced and thus not very much waste. Also the glass used at H/S contains a proportion of post consumer recycled material. Waste for recycling. These items are all recycled thus significantly reducing their impact on the environment. Contamination of land and water. The oil is stored on site safely so as to prevent pollution and is disposed of offsite. Contamination of water. Inks are carefully controlled so as to prevent pollution. We have introduced laser coders on 4 of our lines which use no inks or solvents Admin Printer/copier cartridge recycling Disposal of obsolete computers and other electrical equipment Recycling prevents materials going to landfill and being wasted. Computers are sent for recycling. Other equipment disposal complies with WEEE regulations. Page 7

8 Distribution Accidental fuel / oil leaks from vehicles and delivery of heating oil/storage Use of contractors to transport finished product. Contamination of land and water. Fuel and oil have the potential for water and / or land contamination. Emissions from transportation contribute to global climate change and air quality reduction. Noise pollution is also generated. Efforts to improve transport efficiency being made Disposal Creation of mixed waste for landfill on site Cardboard boxes sold for re-use/returned to supplier/ cardboard sent for use in pulp Plastic Packaging (internal) Packaging going to the customer (glass and PET ) Other outgoing secondary and tertiary packaging; shrink wrap, trays. Product pallets for the UK Diluted cleaning agents, Peracetic acid, caustic hot wash and ozone Use of battery recharged forklifts Includes transportation emissions and impacts associated with landfill (habitat destruction, leachate production, land contamination, methane production). Since these items are re-used or recycled this significantly reduces their impact. Through lightweighting our products we have reduced the amount of packaging sent to the customer. Local councils often provide Glass recycling facilities. Many Councils are now also providing facilities for collection and recycling of plastics. There are various issues associated with materials use (including natural resources use, the energy used during production and transportation issues) but the main issue is its end of life (i.e. landfill). These pallets work on a return principle where they are re-used within the system. These chemicals are carefully stored so as to minimise the potential for pollution. Ozone is generated electrically as and when required. Our batteries last 4 to 5 years as they are rechargeable. Batteries contain materials harmful to the environment. Page 8

9 9 Track lubricant used to lubricate the lines (conveyor belts) when glass bottles are being filled Burning of gas for heating the boiler. Use of propane gas cylinders filled on site for forklift trucks Asbestos roof at Gleneagles A new dry lube system has been installed which has a number of environmental advantages. These include a reduction of water consumption and elimination of detergent use. The volume of trade effluent is reduced. The burning of gas produces greenhouse gas which contributes to global climate change. Special care must be taken if the roof is to be dismantled as it can cause harm to human health and has to be treated as special waste General to the entire Site Gas oil heating boilers. Accidental leakage of gas oil Highland Spring has three discharge consents to the river Allan for the following activities listed below: Production of domestic effluent from our effluent treatment plant Trade effluent discharge Site drainage discharge which runs through petrol interceptors into the Allan water Gleneagles has one discharge consent to the River Allan for the following activity. Trade effluent discharge. Employee travel to work Metal scrap Use of domestic water supplies for employee toilets etc The burning of diesel produces greenhouse gas, which contributes to global climate change. The burning of oil also produces SOx and NOx. In late 2007/ early 2008 the domestic effluent was connected the Blackford Waste Water Treatment Works. This helps further reduce risk of contamination of local water courses. Trade Effluent now uses the same route further reducing the risk levels for the site. The consents are still in place. Many people employed by Highland Spring live in Blackford. Those who do travel to work independently contribute to global climate change. There is little metal scrap The use of natural resources without recycling puts a strain on the environment. It also creates landfill. Use of water has a relatively small environmental impact in Scotland due to high rainfall rates. Impacts relate to the use of a natural resource and water treatment. Page 9

10 10 Use of energy on the whole site. Blowmoulding which requires chilled water and uses electricity The use of electricity itself has no environmental impact; it is the source of electricity that has the overall environmental impact, including global warming. These activities with their associated impacts are determined through the use of a procedure to define importance and also through the discussion within the Environment Committee. This procedure takes into account the views of interested parties, legal commitments, policy commitments and the potential for any emergency situations. Our Environmental legal commitments are listed in our Register of Legislation (this is available on request). Following an initial environmental review it was determined that our most significant effects on the environment are our use of energy, packaging (including waste) and transport. A management programme was developed to control these with the help of managers, and objectives and targets were set to reduce our impact. Our objectives and targets can be found in the next section. 5. Targets and Objectives Work continues to reduce or eliminate packaging from our products. Major development took place in 2012 to test the practicality of a new neck finish at the Ochils site. The current neck is a 30/25 which weighs 3.9g. The proposed alternative is 29/25, which weighs 2.49g. Trials were carried out to prove the compatibility of this neck with our lines. These trials were completed in Q4 and we are hoping to develop this neck within the HS brand in Work has also been carried out in conjunction with our collation shrink film supplier to develop a new blend of film. This film, if successful, will allow us to remove a large proportion of the corrugated trays used as transit packaging. The supplier has developed a number of trial blends and we hope to have these in place in HS has invested in a new shrink wrapping unit on one of the lines to support this activity. We have developed a revised bottle design for one of our main products HS 500ml still. This was created to approved drawing stage late in 2012, and will have the first trial bottles produced early in If successful, this should allow us to reduce the PET content of a main-line product by around 1.5g 2.5g. A number of our 6-pack format products ( 4 packs of six bottles transported in a tray) have been developed into a trayless format. The customer is taking these as individual 6-pack units with no additional transit packaging. Highland Spring is committed to improving it environmental performance in the area of warehousing and distribution. In 2012 a major change in our distribution into our biggest customer led to a significant increase in our product being shipped by rail, and around 1 million lorry miles and nearly 3000 tonnes of CO 2 e saved, for which our haulage partner won a Green Apple environmental award. We also increased the number of loads collected by customers under backhaul arrangements considerably, reduced our annual usage of LPG by specifying fuel efficient forklifts using hybrid technology, and successfully trialled loading directly onto rail at our main Page 10

11 11 production site at Blackford, a project which will be carried forward into Also in 2013, an increase in our warehouse capacity at Blackford will result in a reduction in road haulage to and from 3 rd party storage. Information on the Green Apple award is here: and here: We will report any gains from these developments in the statement for New EMAS Regulation EC No 1221/2009 This new regulation was adopted on 25 November 2009, and introduces new Environmental Reporting requirements on participating companies. Core environmental indicators and methods of reporting them are specified. These are laid out below as the Regulation requires. This information will provide a baseline for future year on year comparisons, and will form the basis for our Objectives and Targets reporting. Energy Efficiency: Target 1% reduction per year Total Direct Energy Use: 15, MWh of electricity. It does not include gasoil which is used for heating purposes only. Total Output: Ratio: Tonnes of Water Bottled MWh/Tonne of Water Bottled This represents a 5% reduction from 2011 in power used per tonne bottled. Work has been done to analyse power consumption in more detail, by function. Systems have been installed to record consumption on an hourly basis and this is providing detailed information on usage at different times. No energy was from renewables. Material Efficiency: Target 1% reduction per year Total Material Use in Tonnes: Glass Plastic Paper Total Tonnes of Water Bottled: Ratio: Tonnes of Material per Tonne of Water Bottled Page 11

12 Glass Plastic Paper Highland Spring Environmental Statement (reduction of 11% from last year) (increase of 7% from last year) (increase of 1% from last year) These variances are due to changes in the sizes and types of products sold, and this has the effect of altering the ratios. Water: Target 1% reduction per year Total water to the factory: 318,887Tonnes Total output: Ratio: 275,462 Tonnes 1.15 Tonnes per tonne bottled which represents a decrease of 8% on It is difficult to reduce this figure because our water use is currently very efficient. Waste: Target 1% reduction per year Non Hazardous Waste Produced in Tonnes Plastic Glass Paper Landfill 90.4 Landfill represents 23.5% of our total waste. However some of this waste will be removed for further recycling by our contractor. We will evaluate this for next year s statement. Ratio: Tonnes of Waste per Tonne of Water Bottled Plastic Glass Paper Landfill The figures are very close to those reported last year and none of differences is significant. The target of a 1% reduction has not been met across all material types. Hazardous Weight of hazardous waste in Tonnes: 2.48 Ratio: tonnes hazardous material per tonne of water bottled: Biodiversity: no target set Page 12

13 Area of built up land: 23,211m 2 Area of organic land: 10,484,200m 2 Ratio: m 2 land per tonne water bottled Area of built up land: 0.08 Area of organic land: Highland Spring Environmental Statement This represents a slight decrease on last year, but is purely caused by the increase in tonnage of water bottled between 2011 and There has been no change to the size of the built up or organic land. Emissions: Target 1% reduction per year Greenhouse Gas Emissions GHG emissions from use of electricity, gas oil and loss of refrigerant from chillers has been calculated: tonnes CO 2 Ratio: tonnes CO 2 per tonne water bottled CO 2 : This represents a decrease of more than 1% from last year Air Emissions Total gas oil used: 73.7 tonnes Total NO 2 generated: Total SO 2 generated: Total Particulate Matter generated: 88kg 117kg 6.3kg Ratio: kg material emitted per tonne water bottled NO 2 : SO 2 : PM: This represents over a 14% decrease in emissions because of a reduction in the fuel oil used on site. This was achieved through close control and monitoring of the use of space heaters. Page 13

14 6. Further Information 6.1 Validation Statement Highland Spring Environmental Statement ENVIRONMENTAL VERIFIER S DECLARATION ON VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION Lloyd s Register Quality Assurance Ltd., with EMAS accredited environmental verifier registration number UK-V-005 and accredited for the scope: The management and reporting of the significant environmental aspects associated with the sources, bottling, packaging and distribution of still and sparkling natural waters. (Nace Code C Production of mineral waters and other bottled waters) Highland Spring Ltd Ochills, Stirling Street, Blackford, Auchterarder, Perthshire United Kingdom Registration number: UK meets all requirements of Regulation (EC) No.1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the voluntary participation of organisations in a Community Eco-Management and Audit scheme (EMAS). By signing this declaration, LRQA declares that: The verification and validation has been carried out in full compliance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No.1221/2009, The outcome of the verification and validation confirms that there is no evidence of non-compliance with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment, The data and information presented in the Environmental Statement 2009 of the organisation reflect a reliable, credible and correct image of all the organisation s activities within the scope mentioned in the environmental statement. This document is not equivalent to EMAS registration. EMAS registration can only be granted by a Competent Body under Regulation (EC) No.1221/2009. This document shall not be used as a stand-alone piece of public communication. LRQA Ref No: LRQ /A Signature: C.E. Rosser, EMAS Lead Verifier On behalf of LRQA Ltd. Hiramford, Siskin Drive Middlemarch Office Village Coventry, UK CV3 4FJ Date of Verification: 16 March 2012 Verification Expiry: 15 March 2015 Date of Validation: 16 March 2013 Validation Expiry: 15 March 2014 Page 14

15 Contact Information We are always keen to obtain feedback about our Environmental efforts, so if you have any questions or comments please contact our Environmental Representative through our head office as follows: Highland Spring Ltd Stirling Street Blackford Auchterarder Perthshire PH4 1QA Telephone: Website: Page 15