Ensuring legally-compliant operations

3 minutes

Abfallwirtschaft Lahn-Dill has twice received the EMAS Award for its exemplary dedication to environmental protection. The German Federal Minister for the Environment Dr. Barbara Hendricks has handed over the certificate both times. The private company was nominated at the European level for the EMAS Awards in 2013 and in 2014. Since 2013, the waste management company has been using Quentic, the online software for Health & Safety, Environmental management (HSE) and Sustainability, to support its exemplary environmental performance.

About Abfallwirtschaft Lahn-Dill

The Lahn-Dill district decided to manage waste responsibly and, to realize this objective, in 1997 created the company Abfallwirtschaft Lahn-Dill. With roughly 60 employees, the company is in charge of waste management between Giessen and Siegen in the Lahn-Dill district and runs a waste management center with a Class 2 landfill site.

Constantly improving environmental protection

As one of the very few public service companies, the enterprise is certified in accordance with the European environmental standard EMAS. When you add certifications in accordance with the quality management standard ISO 9001 and the German Waste Management Facility Directive (EfbV: Entsorgungsfachbetriebeverordnung), it is clear that waste prevention and waste minimization are always of the utmost priority.

Bidding farewell to paper

With the increasing requirements on occupational and environmental protection and the number of documents that need to be archived, it can quickly become difficult to keep track of things. “Our documentation consisted of files and paper-based documents in different places. That made maintaining and updating the data as well as retrieving the right documents enormously difficult,” says Bernd Lommel, IT Manager and Data Protection Officer. These conditions made it apparent to Abfallwirtschaft Lahn-Dill that they had to find a software solution that would cover all the processes in the HSE area, and that would help organize them more efficiently. Important features, such as document and action management were at the top of the list, followed by the easy generation of risk assessments and safety instructions, automatic reminders for deadlines and appointments, as well as reports generated at the push of a button. Eventually, in the summer of 2013, the waste management company decided on Quentic software, in which all documents are centrally managed today. This includes approval and release mechanisms, checking if documents and their versions are up-to-date, archiving as well as planning preventive and verifying actions.

Systemized resource monitoring

The Environmental Management module has been implemented in order to digitally record and assess the company’s environmental performance. All tariffs and consumption of electricity, gas, fresh and waste water, plus inputs and outputs, are accessibly illustrated. This creates a comprehensive image of all operational resource flows. Planned values, specific indicators and target-actual comparisons make it possible to carry out evaluations across site units and visualize the environmental performance of the entire company. If necessary, all accruing waste types can be recorded in the waste log. Information about the volume and transport of waste, the waste manifests, costs and proceeds are centrally recorded and can be easily transferred into reports.

Norm changes via email

To fulfill legal compliance requirements, the waste management company uses the features of the Legal Compliance module. Thanks to its integration with legal databases, the time and effort needed for maintaining and updating all relevant legal norms is greatly reduced. The resulting legal obligations are quickly derived. Automatic email notifications for norm changes and the review-history are useful tools in the daily struggle through the legal jungle. Facilities that are subject to approval are recorded in the facility register including information about the Ordinance on Facilities for Handling Substances Hazardous to Water (VAwS) and other legal references. All processes for obtaining permits, validities and conditions are recorded here and can be retraced at all times.