The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental management system as a set of processes and practices that enable an organization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency. Such a plan, according to the EPA, is designed to help a company achieve its environmental goals by "through control of its operations."
Leave it to the government to make something that can be so simple to develop and implement sound so difficult.
"Developing an environmental management system doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, and if done properly can realize a pretty quick return on investment," Jim Sluiter of ePar USA said during this year's Sports Turf Managers Association annual conference.
An EMS defines a company's environmental point of view through establishing goals and providing a framework on how to reach those goals.For a golf course part of an EMS might include attaining status as a Certified Audubon Sanctuary golf course, reducing water use and reducing chemical inputs. But it is much more than butterfly gardens and bird boxes, says ePar's Kevin Fletcher, Ph.D.
"It involved compliance issues, risk issues, safety, buildings, energy, chemicals," Fletcher said.
"There is a laundry list of things you are responsible for or indirectly responsible for."
Creating an EMS, Fletcher said, is like building a house.
Regulatory compliance, risk management and containment serve as a foundation. Public programs such as industry expectations, staff training, emergency management preparedness and communications form the walls. The roof comprises an operation's lofty goals, such as zero carbon footprint and striving toward sustainability.
The International Organization for Standardization created ISO 14001 as a blueprint for establishing an environmental management system, however, as Fletcher said, "you can draw one on the back of a napkin."
An EMS can be as detailed or general as you like. The key to developing an effective EMS, Fletcher said, is to be realistic in setting goals and expectations.
"You can't address 200 (goals) at once," Fletcher said. "Start with 20 or 10. Keep that list of 200 items, because it might change over time. But what are the top 10 percent that you can deal with and address?"
For some, smart water use might be a critical component of an EMS, while in other locations where there is plenty of water, quality issues and runoff management might be more important.
Both Fletcher and Sluiter warn not to confuse local, state and federal laws with an environmental management system.
"Compliance is mandatory," Sluiter said. "Environmental stewardship is going above and beyond."
Waste management can be another critical component of an EMS, not because it's the most important, but often it's the most visible, Sluiter said.
"It becomes the face of what you're doing," Sluiter said. "You have to do things like recycling that the public understands. To them, this is green. You can have all the wind turbines in the world, but if you're not recycling it's all for naught.
"If you recycled 12,000 pounds of aluminum last year, say this year you want to recycle 12,500 pounds."
Creating and implementing an EMS is a multi-step process that involves the following steps:
Plan
Do
Check
Act
That formula means plan an EMS, implement it, monitor the results and correct was needs correcting. There is another step, tell people about your efforts toward attaining sustainability and environmental stewardship.
"Show progress, and don't be afraid to tell people about it," Fletcher said. "But show real results. Don't make claims you can't back up. Back your claims with substantive environmental approaches."
In other words, said Sluiter, have hard data not generalities when discussing or promoting achievements.
"You're going to have to have some sort of measuring system," Sluiter said. "It's great to say you're saving the planet, but you're going to have to tell us how many millions of gallons of water you are saving, or how many tons of aluminum you are taking out of a stream.
"That's what regulatory agencies care about; numbers."
Sluiter is convinced that creating an EMS and adhering to it soon is going to be the norm for green industry operations.
"Some of you are going to do it by choice, some of you will be doing it with a gun to your head," he said. "This next generation, they're going to demand it. That's how they grew up. We didn't grow up recycling or with that ethic. Anyone under age 20 probably has that instilled in them."