The Bath and West of England Showground in Somerset has recently gained Acorn (BS8555) Phase 5 certification for its Environmental Management System and is the only Showground in England to have achieved this status.

Following an inspection carried out during this year's Bath and West Gardening Show, the auditors were more than satisfied that the Bath and West Showground met their demanding criteria. Internal auditing of the Management System has begun, stakeholders engaged and training and awareness is underway.

Since the start of the year and beginning the implementation of the system - the Society has initiated 18 major projects aimed at environmental improvement: including significant improvement in waste management and recycling rates electricity reduction, drainage improvement and water reduction.

 

Contracts Manager at the Bath and West Showground Eddie Harper MBE heads a working group responsible for meeting the high standards set by Acorn and said today "we are very pleased to have been awarded this prestigious status after working closely with the EMS auditors to move the Showground forward in past months. We are the only Showground in the country to gain this level of accreditation and we aim to improve even more in order to achieve EMAS certification".

The future months will involve meeting the requirements of the EMAS standard, the internal audit of the system against ISO14001 and the EMAS Annual Statement.