Help meeting your environmental legal duties — waste duty of care, permitting, pollution control — and reaching ISO 14001 certification and your sustainability goals. From UK consultants who keep it practical. Since 1984.
Environmental support for a UK business splits into two related needs. The first is environmental compliance — meeting the law: the waste duty of care under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (which applies to every business that produces waste), environmental permitting where required, and pollution-control duties. The second is ISO 14001 certification and sustainability: a recognised, voluntary standard that demonstrates you manage your environmental impact systematically.
It is important to keep the two distinct. Compliance is mandatory — non-compliance risks unlimited fines and fixed-penalty notices. ISO 14001 certification is voluntary, but it is increasingly required to win tenders and is the structured way to control cost, waste and carbon at the same time.
KeyOstas helps with both: a baseline review of your environmental legal compliance, and a staged roadmap to an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System — typically a six-to-twelve-month path from gap analysis to certification readiness — plus practical support on waste, energy and carbon reduction.
Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 places a “duty of care” on every business that produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of waste — including correct storage, transfer only to authorised parties, and accurate waste transfer documentation. Breaches can lead to unlimited fines and fixed-penalty notices.
From meeting the law to ISO 14001 certification and carbon reduction — practical environmental support from UK consultants.
A baseline assessment of your duties — waste duty of care, permitting, discharges and pollution control — with a gap report.
Where you stand against the ISO 14001 standard, and a staged roadmap to certification readiness.
We build a working EMS — aspects and impacts, objectives, controls and records — not just a folder of paperwork.
Practical help with waste storage, transfer notes, authorised-carrier checks and documentation under EPA 1990.
Support identifying and reducing energy use, waste and carbon footprint — with the cost savings that follow.
We prepare you for the certification audit and support you through it to a successful ISO 14001 outcome.
Four reasons UK organisations choose KeyOstas for environmental compliance and ISO 14001.
Five CMIOSH-grade consultants — Chartered Members of IOSH, the highest grade IOSH awards. Most one-person UK consultancies hold no Chartered grade at all.
Our lead consultant is listed on the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register — the cross-body register endorsed by HSE, IOSH and IEMA. Verify us directly on OSHCR.
No junior account managers, no offshored advice lines. The Chartered consultant who scopes your engagement on the free call is the consultant who delivers it.
Findings closed, not just listed. Documents your team will actually use. The benchmark is whether this made your business safer.
From first call to delivery, the Chartered consultant you meet is the consultant who does the work — no handoffs, no junior advisors.
Talk to a Chartered consultant. We map your current state, your regulatory exposure and your priorities. No obligation, no pitch.
Written scope, deliverables, the named consultant who will lead, and a fixed fee or retainer rate — in your inbox within one working day.
Site work, documentation and ongoing competent-person support if you need it. The consultant who scoped the work is the consultant who delivers it.
An ISO 14001 implementation or a compliance review is fixed-scope project work; ongoing environmental support can sit inside a retained package.
ISO 14001 implementation, an environmental compliance review or a duty-of-care project — fixed scope, fixed fee. Written proposal within 24 hours of the scoping call.
Ongoing environmental compliance support and EMS maintenance built into a retained advisory package from £495 a year.
The questions UK buyers ask us most about this service. Tap any to expand.
ISO 14001 is the international standard for an Environmental Management System — a recognised, voluntary framework for managing your environmental impact. It is not a legal requirement, but it is increasingly expected in tenders and is the structured way to control waste, energy and carbon.
Environmental compliance means meeting the law — waste duty of care, permitting, pollution control — and is mandatory. ISO 14001 certification is a voluntary standard demonstrating you manage your environmental impact systematically. A business can be legally compliant without ISO 14001, but ISO 14001 is the recognised way to evidence good practice.
Under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, every business that produces, holds or handles waste has a “duty of care” — to store waste safely, transfer it only to authorised carriers and facilities, and keep accurate waste transfer documentation. It applies to every business, however small.
It depends on your activities. Certain operations — for example some waste, industrial, discharge or emission activities — require an environmental permit or exemption from the Environment Agency. A compliance review identifies whether you need one and helps you obtain it.
For most organisations the path from gap analysis to certification readiness takes around six to twelve months, depending on size, complexity and how much you already have in place. KeyOstas sets out a staged roadmap so the timeline is clear from the start.
They can be significant. Environmental offences can carry unlimited fines, and the Environment Agency and local authorities can issue fixed-penalty notices for breaches such as waste duty-of-care failures. Reputational damage and lost tenders often cost more than the fine itself.
Services and courses UK employers most often combine with this one.
Free 20-minute scoping call. Written proposal within 24 hours. Whether it is the law or ISO 14001, we will tell you what you actually need.
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