GEALAN and the environment

• Our commitment
• Our material: PVC
• PVC material cycle
• The GEALAN Eco-Agreement
• EMAS environmental audit
• The GEALAN environmental declaration 2002 (PDF)
• DIN EN ISO 14001 environmental management system
• Sustainablility benchmarking
• Oekoradar.de
• DIN EN ISO 14031 environmental performance evaluation
• ISO TR 14032 technical report
• Climate protection tips for the home

Company

• The various locations of the GEALAN Group
• Success factors of the GEALAN Group
• GEALAN employees
• Initiatives
• Responsibility / environment
• Purchasing department

GEALAN international:

Environment

Tested environmental management

The DIN EN ISO 14001 Environmental Management System

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has written the worldwide-applicable ISO 14001 to support companies in developing and expanding their environmental management systems. The DIN EN ISO 14001 "Environmental Management Systems – Specifications With Instructions For Their Application" has been the recognised German standard since October 1996. As of June 2003, approx. 53,620 companies have been ISO 14001-certified. The strongest acceptance of this instrument is in Japan (12,392), Spain (3,960), Germany (3,820), USA (3,032), Sweden (2,961) and China (2,802).

Source: www. umweltbundesamt.de

GEALAN is DIN EN ISO 14001-certified

After successfully achieving validation according to the EG Eco Audit, GEALAN's environmental management system was also certified as compliant with DIN EN 14001. In this respect GEALAN is the market leader not only in Europe, but the entire world.

The reason for this additional certification was GEALAN's activities outside of the European Union and in its eastern neighbours. It was difficult to explain to customers outside of the European Union what the EG Eco Audit System was; however, the ISO 14001 norm was recognised and accepted, similar to ISO 9000 certifications in quality management.

The production facilities at GEALAN BALTIC in Vilnius, Lithuania and GEALAN ROMANIA in Bucharest have also been certified for their quality management systems according to ISO 9002, and are set for ISO 14001 certification.

EMAS: more stringent than ISO 14001

There are large differences between the two environmental management systems. Among them are:

• EMAS is a direct European regulation; the ISO 14001 is in comparison a purely private commercial agreement.
• EMAS is limited to the facility and valid only in the European Union.
• EMAS requires a public environmental statement from the company, while the ISO 14001 does not.
• The validation by a state-licensed inspector means that EMAS is controlled by state authorities, unlike the ISO 14001.
• EMAS demands continual improvement in environmental efforts, and that good management practices be respected. The ISO 14001 only requires continual improvement in the environmental management system.
• EMAS requires that all regulations be followed, while the ISO 14001 merely recommends that all regulations be followed