National Press
Office - 16-Sep-2008 - The Environment Agency
has been recognised as a worldwide leader
in sustainable procurement after winning
a prestigious award for its sustainable
timber policy.
The Environment Agency
won the ‘Best Process Improvement’ award
at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing
and Supply (CIPS) Awards despite strong
competition from private and public sector
organisations. Judges praised the Environment
Agency for its robust procurement policy,
and for driving improvements in UK industry
and worldwide forestry practices down through
its supply chain.
Speaking at the awards,
Mark Yeomans, Head of Procurement at the
Environment Agency said: “Forests are a
precious natural resource and their destruction
has wide-ranging social economic and environmental
impacts.
“The Environment Agency
spends up to £3million each year on
timber for use in a wide range of marine
and freshwater construction projects – from
flood defences to fishing platforms – and
in doing so we cannot support illegal or
unsustainable forest management practices
in the UK or abroad. Our sustainable timber
procurement process was put in place to
ensure that all the timber we buy is from
a legal and sustainable source, with an
audit trail from forest source to end use.”
The Environment Agency
uses softwood, temperate and tropical hardwoods
in its construction works, and was particularly
keen to make sure that any tropical hardwoods
used came from sustainable sources, as some
species can take up to 130 years to regenerate.
Now it uses a small
number of suppliers of tropical hardwoods
who can provide evidence that timbers from
abroad are from legal sources. It has also
commissioned a research and development
project with other partners to identify
lesser known hardwood timber species that
can be used in marine and freshwater construction.
This project aims to broaden the choice
available for construction projects and
encourage the use of a wider range of commercially
available sustainable hardwoods.
Mark Yeomans added:
“We were delighted to win the CIPS award
as it recognises the ground breaking work
the Environment Agency has done in sustainable
timber procurement. We hope that this will
encourage other businesses using timber
to follow our example and minimise their
impact on forests around the world by adopting
similar practices.”
Notes for editors
The Environment Agency,
HR Wallingford and TRADA Technology are
working together to provide better, clearer
information on commercially available, but
lesser known, hardwoods such as Basralocus,
Dahoma and Cloeziana. The results will be
shared across the private and public sectors.
The Chartered Institute
of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) exists
to promote and develop high standards of
professional skill, ability and integrity
among all those engaged in purchasing and
supply chain management. Its annual awards
on 4 September, held this year at the Grosvenor
House Hotel, London, 2008 celebrate and
reward excellence in the field of purchasing
and supply management.
+ More
Environment Agency starts
work on Cornwall incinerator permit application
Mike Dunning - 17-Sep-2008
- The Environment Agency is starting work
on the environmental permit application
by SITA for the Cornwall Energy Recovery
Centre planned at Rostowrack Farm, St Dennis
near St Austell.
‘We received SITA’s
application for an environmental permit
on July 24, and now that we are satisfied
the paperwork is correct, we can now confirm
that the application has been duly made,’
explained Judy Proctor for the Environment
Agency.
‘This means that we
are now able to focus on the technical determination
of the application before we make our decision
on whether or not to grant the permit.’
The planning application
for the proposal is currently being considered
by Cornwall County Council. If it gains
planning approval the incinerator will also
require an Environment Agency environmental
permit to operate.
Environmental permits
are used to regulate certain aspects of
the environmental impact of industry in
England and Wales to prevent or reduce pollution
and/or harm to human health.
‘An environmental permit
enables us to set restrictions on and monitor
emissions to air, water and land and to
place conditions on other things such as
how the operator manages waste,’ said Judy
Proctor.
‘Although we have four
months to determine the application this
timetable can be extended by agreement with
SITA. In our experience environmental permit
applications for incinerators can actually
take up to 12 months or more to determine.’
The Environment Agency
will be giving the public every opportunity
to have its say as part of the permit determination
process. Full details of this public consultation
will be published soon.
