In December 2016, Austrian Post implemented its first certified environmental management system at its largest operational unit, the Vienna Letter Centre. The system applies the internationally recognised standard, ISO 14001:2015. This constitutes a major step forward in the post’s approach towards sustainability.
The objective of introducing the environmental management system is to minimise the occurrence of any negative environmental impacts associated with the company’s activities, as well as to increase employee awareness of best-practice environmental management. The new management system will be externally audited every year to ensure it is objectively validated and that, ultimately, the operational unit achieves the strongest environmental performance possible.
During the first few months after the implementation of the management system, an improvement on the environmental performance of the Letter Centre was observed. There has been a reduced demand for electricity and waste separation has improved – mainly due to increased employee awareness of best practice approaches to environmental management. Following these successes, Austrian Post has already begun expanding its use of the certified environmental management system, with its daughter company Medien.Zustell GmbH currently working on the implementation of ISO 14001:2015.