Environmental guidance saves small businesses over £58 million. Local authority and government influencers urged to support environmental compliance to ensure sustainable development in Britain.
Small businesses contribute a staggering £10 billion* to the UK economy – but a new independent study commissioned by the Environment Agency’s NetRegs programme has unveiled a worrying knowledge gap which, if plugged, could help them to contribute millions more.
Influencers across the public sector are now being urged to work more closely with the Environment Agency to assist small businesses with their environmental compliance – in a move to improve the UK’s environmental credentials and give the economy a boost.
www.NetRegs.gov.uk, a free, environmental legislation guidance website set up by the Environment Agency and other UK environmental regulators, has found that UK small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are already saving at least £58 million** a year by using tools such as NetRegs to improve their environmental compliance and business practices. However, for all the thousands of SMEs already recognising the business benefits of having more sustainable business practices, there are many more still paying the cost of poor awareness of environmental legislation.
NetRegs’ latest SME-nvironment study revealed that half of SMEs do not understand how their business impacts on the environment. This poor awareness led to SMEs being hit by fines of around £2.4 million for pollution and environmental damage in 2007 – a cost not only to the businesses, but to the national economy and to the environment as a whole.
Martin Brocklehurst, Head of External Programmes at the Environment Agency, believes that more could be done to train public sector key influencers about environmental legislation so that together they can break the cycle of misunderstanding and inaction by SMEs. He explains:
“We know small and medium-sized businesses struggle to keep on top of environmental regulations – and access to free, plain English guidance on compliance can help understanding as well as make a business more economical. SMEs have told us that they frequently look to their local authority for advice on environmental issues. Our close working relationship with national and regional government and public sector influencers is crucial to improve awareness and to remind SMEs of the effect that better environmental compliance can have on their businesses. By advocating businesses use www.NetRegs.gov.uk it will ensure that they keep on top of the regulations. Together, we can improve the UK’s environmental credentials and give small businesses a boost.”
NetRegs is looking to work even more closely with those that regularly come into contact with SMEs and urging them to act. These important influencers have the power to help businesses improve their environmental compliance. By raising awareness of the existing free support from www.NetRegs.gov.uk, influencers can encourage SMEs to sign up to services like NetRegs’ e-alerts. These are free, regular updates which prompt a business about changes to existing legislation and highlight forthcoming regulations. With proactive guidance from public sector influencers, NetRegs is confident that small businesses can significantly improve their green business practices.
The benefits of sharing this knowledge are that businesses reduce the risk of being fined for non-compliance and save costs by not having to employ private environmental consultants. For the public sector influencer, this awareness-raising will contribute to improved environmental standards among the 99 per cent of UK businesses that are SMEs and provide an opportunity to build enhanced relationships between local authorities and the businesses in their region.
Martin continues: “We commissioned environmental consultants EFTEC to undertake an independent assessment of how much SMEs save through improving their awareness of environmental legislation. The results are impressive: each SME that receives NetRegs’ free regular email alerts that keep them up-to-date with regulations and good practice is already saving on average £2,615 per year by reducing time spent reviewing legislation and benefiting from advice on compliance**. For those SMEs that log on to the website every week, this rises to £5,296 a year – a significant chunk on a small business’ balance sheet.”
EFTEC estimates that the total annual value to the 300,000 SMEs who use NetRegs.gov.uk could be as high as £85 million.
Martin continues: “Fewer than half of UK SMEs have recognised that they can save money and reduce their environmental impact by such measures as recycling or waste minimisation. These businesses unknowingly violate environmental laws – but with the right encouragement and practical, no-cost guidance they can avoid fines and save money.“
