Environmental management | ISO 14001

Through our core activities alone, we already contribute significantly to the environment. Our systems for the horticulture industry help growers cut energy consumption (Van der Valk Horti Systems) and our systems for the solar industry contribute to energy generation from renewable sources (Van der Valk Solar Systems). On top of that, we produce materials with a long service life (> 25 years) and use recyclable materials such as steel and aluminium as much as possible.

We wanted to go one step further:

• Control and reduce the environmental impact and environmental risks of our business activities.
• Raise awareness among our employees. 
• Support partners in pursuing an environmental policy. 

In short: we wanted an environmental policy that complies with the ISO 14001 standard. 

‘It is becoming increasingly important for us as a supplier to be able to demonstrate to customers that we manufacture our products responsibly and consider the product’s total life cycle. ISO 14001 certification allows us to show that we meet the international standard in this area. 

That said, being awarded the certificate was not a goal in itself, but rather the result of the process we have gone through. We have, among other things, mapped out and improved the business processes and their environmental impact by, for example, assessing our own suppliers and making an environmental contingency plan.

We have also formulated new environmental goals. We intend to, for example, replace the lights in our company buildings with LED lighting (>50% energy savings) and digitise our paper flow. As the QHSE manager, I coordinate the environmental management system and track developments in the relevant laws and regulations.’

‘With the environmental management system, we have laid a solid foundation for our CSR and sustainability initiatives over the coming years. ISO 14001 certification involves an annual evaluation, where one of the main criteria is that we have to keep improving as a company. Considering the culture here at Van der Valk Systemen, I’m confident that we will have no problem doing that!’ 



More information: Van der Valk Systemen’s environmental policy