CEMEX USA has announced that its Clinchfield cement plant in Georgia has earned the prestigious and internationally-recognised ISO 14001:2015 certification. The certification has been awarded for the plant’s environmental management system (EMS), making it the first CEMEX cement operation in the US to reach the achievement.
In order to earn the ISO 14001:2015 certification, the EMS at the Clinchfield plant had to follow a continuous cycle of environmental policy, planning, support and operation, performance evaluation, and subsequent improvement.
The International Organisation of Standardization (ISO) developed the ISO 14001:2015 as a standard of processes for organisations to use when setting up, improving, or maintaining their EMSs to follow established environmental policies and requirements. The guidelines are designed to help organisations improve efficiency, reduce waste, improve overall environmental impact, and manage environmental obligations.
In addition to the newly-received ISO 14001:2015 certification, the Clinchfield cement plant is one of several CEMEX sites to achieve certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council. The plant is also active in the Georgia Black Bear Project. The company has stated that it is currently in the process of achieving ISO 14001:2015 certification at its eight other active cement plants in the US.
“At CEMEX, we operate with environmental excellence in mind and we are always striving to improve,” said Ignacio Madridejos, President of CEMEX USA. “An effective environmental management system can help our operations to build on their successes while following well-established standards. With the ISO 14001:2015 certification, our Clinchfield cement plant is setting a level of excellence that could inspire many other operations across the US.”
“Our EMS at Clinchfield helps drive a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence,” said Dr Hugo Bolio, Executive Vice President of Cement Operations and Technology at CEMEX USA. “At all our cement plants, our teams work together to operate responsibly, striving to perform better than environmental standards as we are building a better future.”