Environmental Management System at RWS Meets International Standard of Excellence

RWS is the first municipal-owned and operated solid waste facility in U.S. to receive environmental designation

PORTLAND, Maine - An independent, self-imposed audit has shown that the environmental management system in place at Regional Waste Systems meets a rigid international standard of excellence.

RWS is the first municipal-owned and operated solid waste management organization in the U.S. to meet the internationally recognized ISO 14001 standard and receive certification from the American National Standards Institute-Registrar Accreditation Board (ANSI-RAB). In Maine, just 10 other companies - each in industry or manufacturing - are known to have achieved registration to the environmental standard.

"You don't achieve this standard unless you are dedicated to improvement and act on that commitment in a responsive and proactive way," said Norman E. Justice, Jr. of Gorham, chairman of the Board of Directors at RWS, a municipal-owned, non-profit solid waste and recycling organization serving 27 communities in southern Maine. "The auditors recognized that environmental protection is paramount at RWS."

The ISO 14001 standard requires companies to voluntarily develop and implement a comprehensive environmental management system (EMS) that includes a self-imposed system of checks and balances covering 18 specific areas. Those areas include monitoring and measurement, documentation, operational controls, record keeping and communication.

RWS, which operates a waste-to-energy plant, spent two years implementing an EMS modeled after ISO 14001. In March, Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Advanced Waste Management Systems conducted an audit at RWS to assess its conformance to the international standard. The independent auditor found RWS met each element of the ISO 14001 standard. RWS recently received a certificate of registration from the ANSI-RAB, the governing body for ISO 14001 in the U.S. RWS will be audited every six months to ensure that the EMS is maintained.

"We are imposing certain standards on ourselves that go beyond state and federal regulations because we believe strongly in protecting the environment," said Mark Arienti of Gray, the environmental manager at RWS. "And we're not just hanging the certificate on the wall and forgetting about it. The EMS needs to be constantly updated and monitored to maintain conformance with the standard."

The ISO 14001 standard, finalized in 1996, is more common and entrenched among companies in Europe and Japan. The U.S. lags behind, but a number of major companies, including Ford Motor Company and IBM, have implemented ISO 14001 at their facilities and required it of their suppliers.

Of the approximate 110 municipal waste incinerators in the U.S., only four have ISO 14001 certification, Arienti said, and RWS is the only one of those four that is not privately held. According to the Maine DEP, 10 other companies have received the ISO 14001 designation, including BOC Gases in Kittery, Guilford of Maine in Guilford, Osram Sylvania in Bangor, Philips Elmet in Lewiston, and Fairchild Semiconductor in South Portland.

"This is a high level of achievement, borne of hard work and dedication, and something we are proud of," said RWS Board Chairman Justice, crediting Arienti and the EMS Work Group, made up of volunteer employees representing waste-to-energy, recycling and administrative operations. RWS employees who comprised the group were Diane Doane of South Portland, Stan Follet of Westbrook, Jay Dicentes of Standish, and Tony Dicentes of Hollis.

Regional Waste Systems is a non-profit solid waste management corporation that is owned and controlled by 27 cities and towns and governed by a 28-member board consisting of officials appointed from member towns.

RWS has the largest, most comprehensive municipal recycling program in the state with more than 100 recycling bins in 60 locations throughout southern Maine. More than 18,000 tons of recycled material are processed each year.

The waste-to-energy plant operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and complies with state and federal Clean Air emission standards. Each year, RWS processes between 172,000 and 177,000 tons of trash, incinerating about 480 tons of trash per day. The heat created by burning the wastes generates steam, which is then transformed into enough electricity to meet the needs of 15,000 homes.

For additional information on RWS, visit the RWS web site at www.regionalwaste.org.

# # #