environmental_law_verdicts — Img Source : The daily star

What is environmental compliance? Why it is critical to your business?

Let’s start with the definition of environmental compliance first.

Cambridge dictionary defines compliance as “the act of obeying an order, rule, or request”. If you add the word environmental before compliance, you get a clear definition of what environmental compliance is.

In simple words, environmental compliance is a practice of obeying the laws relating to the environment. It is like any other law or regulation. You need to abide by these laws to stay out of legal troubles.

In the USA, environmental compliance is made and enforced by city, county, state and federal environmental agencies. The inspections, compliance, and monitoring are performed by the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), the law enforcement arm of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The US environmental laws cover the usage of water, energy management, waste management, storage tanks, fuel, and toxic releasing inventories. On violating these laws, a person can end up paying hefty fines, jail time or both.

Keep in mind that the USA has a complex environmental law that is a mix of federal, state, local laws, regulation, science, and health concerns.

Top of that, the laws are likely to change frequently.

Why EC (Environmental Compliance) Matters to Your Business

It is a bitter truth that the environment is not always the topmost business priority. Or you can say that it is not a serious concern among most businesses.

However, violating the environment laws can make your subject to penalties and imprisonment. Besides, it can affect the reputation of your business.

But that doesn’t mean you treat it as a law you are bound to abide by. Instead, it should be seen as a responsibility to protect and conserve natural resources. Being active in minimizing your carbon footprint, reducing the level of wastage and becoming more sustainable can lead to energy savings, spending less on inputs, and creating a positive impression in the minds of your customers.

Here are some of the key benefits of compliance with environmental laws…

Helping you meeting legal requirements
Auditing lets you demonstrate that you are environmentally responsible
Helping you meet statutory reporting requirements
Helping you understand the effect of products, services, and action on the environment.
Researching and conducting compliance requirements on behalf of organizations.
Ensuring that your business’s environmental risks are managed appropriately
Helping you improve environmental performance and saving cost

Don’t you feel blessed to be born on planet Earth?

Of course, you must be proud of that, right?

But then, what excuse do you have to neglect the environment? Yes, knowingly or unknowingly, for years, you have been ruining the living conditions on Earth. While the world has just celebrated the Earth day few days back, do you think it is sufficient to make it clean once a year?

As compared to what Earth gives for free of cost, including air for breathing, soil for agriculture, and endless things, doesn’t it deserve one good thing every day?

So, if you are ready to pay your tribute to Mother Earth, for all those bestowed wonderful gifts, here is a list of things you can try in your daily life.

Start riding your bike

It was found in a study conducted by the European Cyclists Federation that cycling emissions are 10 times lower than those produced from driving. Hence, if everyone starts cycling on a regular basis, it would reduce carbon emissions up to a great extent. And with this, will also help restructuring the urban landscape.

Prepare your own garden

Thinking why, when you can get it is easily from the market? For this you need to know that an average carrot travels 1,800 miles to reach your dinner plate. So, you can now decide why you need to do so?

Yes, to save those plenty of miles which would else contribute to more carbon emissions, you can start nurturing your own edible garden. While you will enjoy fresh veggies, you will save Earth, simultaneously.

Decompose your kitchen scraps

Do you know, in United States, the food waste alone amounts to more than 30 million tons of waste? Yes, this amount enters the landfills, leading to severe problems for generations to come. Isn’t it is tragic? The food and yard waste can be easily recycled. Yes, it can be re-used and reduced by composting food scraps.

Pick a reusable bottle

Stop using those plastic disposable water bottles. Do you know you can save around 6 gallons of water using a single reusable water bottle? No doubt, the plastic bottles are recyclable. However, starts state another story. Around 88 percent of these bottles still end up in landfills. And this would take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade the same.

On the contrary, you can switch to reusable drink containers and eliminate the need for 100 disposable bottles per year. Isn’t that great!

Save light

You might be hearing this from long time, but even today, it is the best way to save energy and cut down the home energy costs. Simply start with turning off your lights when not in use. Then another move you can take is to switch from the traditional incandescent bulbs to the more energy-efficient CFLs and LEDs.

Reuse glass containers

A lot has been talked about recycling. But the silent fact is that reusing is better. Thus, it is advised to get into the habit of collecting glass jars and glassware. Reason being, you don’t need to buy excess of Tupperware for storing food and beverages.

Lastly, it is essential for you to understand that going green is not merely a trendy statement. In fact, it is the need of the hour. By changing your daily lifestyle and putting little to no efforts, you would be able to make your sufficient contribution. Go ahead!

MInority Business Enterprise (MBE)

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