- If Coca Cola wishes to gain ISO 14001 Compliance it must stop its present policy of setting up plants in water stressed locations, which cause major groundwater depletions and is a major cause for health hazards.
- It must abandon its policy of causing pollution and environmental damages, thereby creating more issues for itself and the immediate neighbourhood in which these plants operate
- Coca-Cola has been accused of overexploiting water resources in.
Preparations for EMS in the context of soft drinks major Coca Cola
The next aspects that Coca-Cola needs to observe are the following :
- The environmental goals that it wishes to achieve must be quantifiable.
- It must be in total conformance with its own internal goals and objectives and should blend harmoniously with existing local scenarios.
- In case enforcement of ISO 14001 needs internal structural and organizational changes, the same must be carried out.
- A sound and practical EMS (Environmental Management System) must be carried out that has at its main objectives total protection of environment in as much as the company’s operations are concerned.
Water sustainability and usuage in areas of operations
By far the most important aspect as regards Coca-Cola’s environmental sustainability is concerted is that of water :
- It is therefore necessary that management of environment is well carried out.
- Besides safe and secure manufacturing, bottling and distribution procedures, management of quality in commensuration with Standards and Procedures enunciated under ISO 14001 norms.
- It is also necessary that Standard Auditing Practices as enunciated under ISO 14001 are also enforced as required.
- Since ISO 14001 is chiefly concerned about environmental sustenance and freedom from hazards caused by industry, it needs to be strictly enforced in the Coca-Cola context.
Holistic Environmental concerns
According to the management of the Coca-Cola company, it is necessary to integrate sound and practical environmental techniques in all facets of its business, not only in production and bottling units, but also in along its supply chain management systems and distribution and logistics divisions.
“We are also building a Global Audit Organization that is integrating environmental, quality and safety audits in our facilities against Company policy based on the international standards of ISO 14001, OHSAS 18000 and ISO 9000.” (Seabright, 2006, para.23).
Moreover, it is not enough that just a few units in the US or India need to be ISO 14001 compliant. There needs to be holistic compliance in all its locations, bottling plants, distribution centers, supply chain and logistics systems.
Steps to be taken by Coca-Cola Company
If Coca-Cola wishes to gain ISO 14001 compliance it must :
- Stop over extraction of ground water in places where it has plants, especially in water stressed areas of the world.
- It needs to provide succor to people living in areas that have water shortages by maintaining modest and sound water extraction techniques.
- It is necessary for Coca-Cola in its own long term sustenance interests to draw up “source water protection programs.” (Environmental leadership, 2009, para.8).
Kinds of Questionaires needed to be formulated and enforced
For seeking to gain and sustain ISO 14001 compliance, it is necessary that Coca-Cola needs to formulate a sound and robust environmental internal audit system that not only conforms with best industry practices in the realms of EMS.
This also seeks to constantly seek vigil and monitor of company activities that compromise, or even violate good environmental practices.
Thus, answers to following questionnaire development and assessment based on closed ended questions need to be gained:
- total audit questionnaire;
- Policy audit questionnaire;
- Scheduling audit questionnaire;
- Checking audit questionnaire;
- Review and reappraisal audit questionnaire.
Reference List
Environmental leadership, 2009. The Coco cola Company. Web.
Seabright, J., 2006. Speeches. The Coco cola Company. Web.