Waste and Resource Recovery

Environmental Management System

On August 9, 2006, the Waste and Resource Recovery (WARR) Division was audited by an independent third party auditor to assess the division’s compliance with the International Standards Organization (ISO) 14001:2004 standards.  WARR’s Environmental Management System (EMS) was evaluated against each of the seventeen core elements of the ISO 14001:2004 standards titled “environmental management system – specification with guidance for use.”  This two day audit included the examination of documentation, records, policies and procedures, interviews with front line employees, and field observations of activities and conditions.

WARR’s EMS achieved a 99% compliance with the 17 core elements of the ISO 14001:2004 standard.  The independent third party auditor has had only one team in the history of their training programs to ever score higher than 99% in the initial audit assessment.  Through their dedication to the EMS program and to Chesterfield County’s strategic goal number 7, WARR has taken a leadership role “To be responsible protectors of the environment”.  The power of the team concept to implement principles of continual improvement in every aspect of our division is evidenced by this extraordinary outcome.  All of this success was not possible without a strong EMS team dedicated to this program and senior leadership supporting the WARR EMS team efforts. 

On April 1, 2007, the WARR EMS team was awarded certification as an E2 facility by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ).  On October 10, 2007, WARR was accepted as a member into EPA’s Performance Track program.  With this membership, WARR is automatically E4 certified with the VDEQ.  With the acceptance by EPA into Performance Track, the effectiveness of WARR’s EMS has been acknowledged at the highest level.