ISO14001

REDUCE ~ REUSE ~ RECYCLE

What is ISO14001?

The ISO14001 standard was publish in 1996. The pioneering work of The British Standards Institute in developing the BS 7750 standard whose mantra is RECYCLE ~ REDUCE ~ REUSE has enabled ISO to use it as a model and has made a significant contribution to the development of the international standard ISO14001. It is also designed to be compatible with the European Union criteria for an environmental management system under the Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

ISO14001 is designed to enable each individual business to create and monitor an environmental management system, which suits their own particular activity. Application of an Environmental Management system to ISO14001 will show practical business results in terms of increased efficiency and reduced costs as well as environmental benefits for the whole community.

What can ISO14001 and the EVS Solder Recovery Systems do for your business?

Shipping your dross offsite does not fit in with ISO14001 mantra of RECYCLE ~ REDUCE ~ REUSE. This is where EVS comes in, as using an EVS System will reduce your lead and lead-free dross going offsite by up to 80%.
ISO14001 improves operational efficiency and cost reduction in areas such as energy consumption, waste minimisation and primary resource utilisation.
EVS can reduce your solder purchases by up to 50%.
ISO14001 gives an effective cost-benefit analysis for environmental compliance beyond legal requirements.
EVS demonstrates your commitment to reducing primary raw material usage.
ISO14001 enables cost-efficient consistency in your approach to pollution prevention or reduction.
EVS allows your staff to participate in improving your environmental credentials.
EVS helps reduce costs in all areas of its operation therefore making your facility more efficient than non-users.
ISO14001 facilitates credible environmental claims to be made in a competitive marketplace, maximising business opportunities.
ISO14001 demonstrates to regulators, customers, consumers and to your company’s stakeholders the systematic control and management of environmental effects.
EVS enables onsite recovery of solder from dross, thereby reducing storage, handling and transportation. This complies with ISO’s mantra of RECYCLE ~ REDUCE ~ REUSE.
EVS recovery and subsequent reduction in waste material demonstrates to ISO auditors your commitment to fundamentally rethinking your company’s impact on environment.

The Environment and the EVS

The EVS can make a positive contribution to corporate policies regarding a company’s interaction with its immediate environment. The EVS makes a significant contribution to attaining and retaining ISO14001 compliance by effectively recovering solder from your dross into reusable solder that can be dropped straight back into your pot. In a shopfloor situation it does this quickly, with a clean and efficient process, and unlike many other environmental measures, the EVS systems save significant sums of money as well.

Reducing waste produced by inhouse processes in turn reduces the purchase requirements for new product. Reductions in paperwork, bureaucracy, storage, transport (petrol etc) will ensue.

ISO14001 is a voluntary standard which allows a company to establish systems which minimise the company’s effect on the environment. The benefits of ISO14001 include:

Cost savings and reduced consumption and waste through conservation and recycling.
Cost savings from anticipating future legislation and regulations and installing necessary environmental controls.
Cost savings in insurance premiums due to lower inherent risks.
A marketing advantage by meeting current and future legislation (lower risk of vertical litigation), meeting ISO14001 company’s requirements and by demonstrating environmental friendliness to the open market.
Improved supplier and staff motivation.

The EVS Ranges are easy to use, self-contained, cheap to run and cuts customers solder purchases by 50%. The process, which is patented worldwide, is simple yet effective, so much so that until seen many people do not believe the results are possible. The quality of solder recovered by the EVS systems has been proved countless times- please see Solder Quality for more details.

No chemicals or additives are involved- what you put in is what you get out. The EVS systems reclaim the solder from your dross in the form of ingots which can be instantly reintroduced into the solder bath or stored for later use. An average of 50-80%+ of solder is recovered from the dross. The waste material is ejected automatically into a dross bin which is situated in the cart/cabinet of the EVS machine.

Maintenance is quick and uncomplicated. The on-board diagnostics prompts full and interim services which are primarily concerned with ensuring the operating surfaces of the machine are kept clean and free flowing.

The EVS systems provide savings and efficiencies in many ways. The EVS removed the need for complex and expensive inert gas systems to reduce oxidisation (dross). This is due to the EVS System being much cheaper to procure and operate, and recovers solder no matter how much dross is produced. Similarly, additives aimed at reducing oxidation are unnecessary. The speed and ease of dedrossing when using an EVS system makes more frequent dedrossing a viable option, which in turn improves the quality of the solder bath and its operational efficiency.

All these features are significant in working towards the ISO14001 standard which is becoming the goal for most international electronics companies. Of the many environmental conservation measures that are being adopted, the EVS System can be said to demonstrate the most readily justifiable payback.

Contact EVS today to find out how much you could save.