Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
Your business can gain a number of benefits from reducing, reusing, recovering and recycling waste. However, remember that waste activities such as recycling and recovery use energy so your priority should be to reduce waste in the first place.
Businesses now face increased legal obligations for their waste. In some industries, the producers also have legal responsibility for the disposal of their products, such as packaging, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and vehicles. Adopting better waste practices makes it easier to comply with existing regulations and enables you to be better prepared for any new legislation.
The penalties for failing to manage environmental risks properly can be substantial. You could experience damage to your reputation, disruption to your business, or you could be prosecuted or fined.
Your business can save money by using better waste management techniques. For example, you can:
You can often make these savings through little or no capital investment. They are not just one-off savings, but could save your business money year after year. Experience in the UK suggests that businesses across a range of industries can save 4 per cent of turnover by employing waste minimisation techniques.
Customers, employees and potential investors are becoming more aware of environmental responsibility and failure to take action could affect your business' reputation and profitability. You could attract new customers and win contracts by showing your business is environmentally responsible.
Reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering your waste also benefits the environment. For example:
Business benefits of reducing, reusing and recycling waste
Choosing a waste management option
Treating and composting biodegradable waste
Groundwater in Northern Ireland, DAERA have produced a leaflet to raise awareness about this untapped resource
EU Exit, EU Exit useful information
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