Environmental management | ISO 14001

Paul van der Meer | Project leader ISO Certification and KAM Coordinator
"With the ISO 14001 certification, we can demonstrate that we manufacture our products responsibly and thus comply with the international standard."

Certificate ISO 14001 (in Dutch)    Environmental policy

With our core activities, we make an important contribution to the environment naturally. Our systems for the horticultural sector contribute to energy savings (Van der Valk Horti Systems) and our systems for the solar industry contribute to sustainable energy generation (Van der Valk Solar Systems). In addition, we produce materials with a long lifespan (>25 years) and incorporate as much recycled material as possible, like steel and aluminium.

We wanted to go even further by:

• Managing and reducing the environmental burden and environmental risks of our business activities.
• Creating awareness among our employees. 
• Supporting our partners with their environmental policy. 

In other words: we wanted an environmental policy that conformed to the ISO 14001 standard. 

"As a supplier it is increasingly important to show customers that we manufacture our products responsibly and take the entire life cycle of the product into account. With the ISO 14001 certificate we can prove our compliance with the international standard in this field.

Yet obtaining the certificate was not an end in itself, but the result of the process we went through. We documented and improved the business processes and their impact on the environment. For example, we evaluated our own suppliers and prepared an environmental disaster plan.

We also formulated new environmental objectives. We wanted to replace our lighting in the industrial buildings by LED lighting (energy saving >50%) and digitize the paper flow in our production proces. As KAM manager I coordinate the environment management system and keep track of the applicable legislation."

"With this environment management system we have a good basis for taking structural initiatives in the coming years in terms of CSR and sustainability. The ISO 14001 Certification involves annual evaluation, with the important criterion of showing that we as an organization continue to improve. Given the culture in Van der Valk Systemen, I am convinced that it will all go well!"