بازیافت عملکرد موسسات قبل و بعد از تصویب استاندارد ایزو 14001

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of ISO 14001 certification on recycling performance. The research is based on a survey conducted on a sample of certified industrial companies that operate in United States. The paper reveals that companies’ recycling performance is significantly positively affected by certification. The paper also reveals that earlier certified companies experience better recycling performance than more recently certified companies. Finally, the paper shows that smaller firms experience greater improvement in recycling performance than larger firms due to ISO 14001 certification.

In 1996, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) based in Geneva, developed the ISO 14000 series which describe the requirements to be fulfilled by organizations to implement an effective environmental management system (EMS). The ISO 14000 series consists of 21 standards and guidance documents. These environmental standards are divided into six categories: 1) environmental management system; 2) environmental auditing; 3) environmental performance evaluation; 4) environmental labeling; 5) life cycle assessment; and 6) environmental aspects in product standards [1]. ISO 14001 is considered the only standard designed for the purpose of audit and certification in the ISO 14000 series. The core elements of the ISO 14001 standard are environmental policy, planning, implementation and operation, checking and corrective action, review and improvement. General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, and other automobile manufacturers have adopted ISO 14001 certification and they are requiring their suppliers worldwide to adopt the certification as a condition for continuing to do business [2]. Although ISO 14001 certification has been demanded by customers and stakeholders, companies still have no clear understanding of the benefits of implementing ISO 14001. It is often assumed that ISO 14001 certification leads to a better performance for organizations. Some environmental management system (EMS) authors claim that the effective implementation of ISO 14001 elements will reduce or eliminate negative environmental impact and move a company toward better environmental performance [3]. However, few studies discuss the quantitative effects of implementing ISO 14001 on improving the environmental performance. This could be a result of the short period of time since this standard was first introduced in 1996 and the real demand by the customers after 1998 to have their suppliers certified to ISO 14001 standard. This paper presents an empirical examination of the impact of ISO 14001 certification on the recycling performance of organizations. This research was conducted in the United States, and includes 177 industrial organizations. The aim of this research is to investigative the improvements of recycling performance for the organizations as result of adopting ISO 14001 certification. The main question for this paper can be described as follows: “Does ISO 14001 certification lead to a better recycling performance for organizations?”

The paper provides empirical insights to existing benefits of ISO 14001 certification. It was shown that companies’ recycling performance quantitatively improved as result of obtaining ISO 14001 certification. Until this research, these results were not verified. Additionally, regression modeling was utilized to prove that time of certification and company sizes (number of employees) have significant impact on the improvements in recycling performance. The results of this paper are a significant step in the direction toward resolution of the conflict of whether or not the implementation of ISO 14001 standard drives tangible improvements in companies’ environmental performance. Using the results from this paper, companies can learn more about their strength and weaknesses in their ISO 14001 implementation and assess their recycling performance after implementation of the standard. Companies also could be able, through this research, to justify the expenses of efforts associated with ISO 14001 registration.