Carrathool Shire Council, in the Western Riverina of New South Wales, has been awarded ISO 14001 certification for its Environmental Management System, covering Council’s entire operations.
“This is a world first,” said General Manager James Roncon. “Carrathool Shire Council is the first Council in NSW, only the second in Australia, and the first rural Council in the world to achieve certification to the international ISO 14001 standard across its entire operations. This is no easy task for any organisation, especially a rural Council responsible for management of issues as wide ranging as water and sewer infrastructure, waste, roads, buildings, and community facilities. Our Environmental Management System covers all of these areas and more.”
An Environmental Management System, or ‘EMS’, involves the development of effective management procedures and processes to identify and address environmental impacts.
The ISO 14001 standard requires an organisation to implement an effective EMS, and to have the system audited by an external party on a regular basis. Council embarked on the EMS path 12 months ago following an earlier strategic planning exercise initiated by the General Manager to establish where Council wanted to be in 20 years.
“Through any strategic planning process you undertake, it is important to be outcomes focused, and in the case of Carrathool Shire Council, our primary objective is to halt population decline,” James Roncon said. “Economic development was identified as the key to achieving this goal, and two key areas emerged on which to focus our efforts – infrastructure management including roads, communications and so forth, and environmental management.”
The benefits to Council of the EMS and ISO 14001 certification are already clear. Council has reduced its energy consumption, reduced the amount of waste it produces, and improved the way it manages fuels and oils at its depots and in the field.
“We are also starting to see financial benefits,” he said. “Aside from the savings resulting from reduced energy and resource use, we stand to benefit enormously from taking a more efficient approach to environmental management. Through the EMS, we can now manage issues more effectively, while taking up less time of our staff.”
To ensure a thorough and efficient implementation of the EMS, Carrathool Shire Council drew on the services of EMS specialists Omega Environmental Strategies, to coordinate the process. Omega’s Senior Partner, Andrew Wales, worked closely with Council throughout the implementation, and has been impressed with Council’s vision and enthusiasm.
“Carrathool Shire Council has certainly set the benchmark in Local Government,” Andrew Wales said. “While many organisations are big on talk and small on action when it comes to environmental management, Carrathool Shire have forged ahead and shown the rest of the world what can be achieved. This is primarily as a result of the vision of Council’s management, and the dedication of its staff.”
James Roncon said that that Omega’s inhouse approach to the project was unique among consultants, yet highly effective.
“Omega guided us through every step of the process, allowing us to feel ownership of the system as it developed,” he said. “I think the result speaks for itself.” For more information, contact James Roncon on (02) 6965 1306, or Andrew Wales at Omega Environmental Strategies on (02) 4234 0504.
