World Standard’s Day takes place every year on 14th October with the aim of raising awareness and celebrating global efforts to promote standards that benefit society as a whole. This year, the special day focuses on a “shared vision for a better world”. Since attaining the ISO 14001 standard in November 2020, we have been involved in various projects to work towards becoming a more sustainable company. At Don Whitley Scientific (DWS), we implement environmentally conscious practices to achieve our long-term goal of reaching net zero by 2050. Through a list of targets and objectives, as well as our carbon reduction plan, we can make sure that we drive environmental importance in everything that we do.
We decided that obtaining the ISO 14001 accreditation was essential as it has enabled us to uphold our environmental policies and has enhanced our efficiency and effectiveness as a company overall. For example, now that we have an environmental management system (EMS), aspects such as gas and electricity, waste, and water consumption can be monitored more closely. This includes improving lighting controls (sensor movement activation), using hybrid/electric company vehicles, eco-friendly packaging materials and renewable energy.
In addition, we believe in building durable products, that’s why our workstations come with a lifetime guarantee against faulty design or workmanship. The Whitley Workstation is designed to cope with heavy laboratory workloads, with control mechanisms sufficiently precise for the most complex research or manufacturing applications. When we deliver UK sales, we use our own transportation and bring back any packaging required to protect the goods in transit to our factory where it is used again or recycled. If customers upgrade to a new Whitley Workstation, our service engineers are happy to refurbish the old workstation. If it cannot be refurbished, we may be able to re-use some of the parts but if the workstation is beyond saving, we ensure it is disassembled and all the metal and plastic separated and recycled.
Acquiring certifications such as the ISO 14001 standard marks a crucial milestone in our commitment to a more sustainable business and future.