Over the last few years Hampiðjan has systematically worked on a number of aspects of environmental issues and the basis of this goes back to the company setting out its environmental policy. This policy was formally accepted by the board in the autumn of last year.

A significant milestone in Hampiðjan’s environmental policy is to introduce ISO 14001 environmental certification in Iceland. Hampiðjan’s production arm in Lithuania has since 2007 been working under DNV certification for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 environmental certification and ISO OHSAS 18001 health and safety in the workplace certification. The addition of environmental certification in Iceland is a welcome addition.

An agreement was made with DVN’s Icelandic partner iCert for the certification. Hampiðjan’s environmental specialist Helga Björg Loftsdóttir led the process with the assistance of iCert owner Sigurður M. Harðarson.

Helga joined Hampiðjan for the summer of 2019 with the aim of setting out a roadmap for the company’s environmental policy. She continued with this work as part of her thesis at the University of Akureyri to complete a BSc in business and fisheries studies.
Her thesis title is ‘A roadmap for Hampiðjan’s environmental policy – UN global goals for sustainable development and the advantages of introducing ISO 14001 certification.’

On completion of her studies, Helga was appointed as the company’s specialist in environmental matters, establishing a new position at Hampiðjan. The first step was to establish the parameters of the company’s policy and to introduce an environmental management system.

This summer Helga worked on reducing Hampiðjan’s environmental footprint, as well as calculating the overall carbon footprint of its activities in Iceland. The intention was to improve and to bring in ISO 14001. This is in line with new thinking in the community at large, which is increasingly conscious of environmental matters. There are numerous opportunities within this that can be of use to Hampiðjan’s sales and marketing in future, both at home and on its overseas markets.

After working steadily towards this aim in recent months, Helga Björg was presented by Sigurður M. Harðarson with the company’s ISO 14001 certification.

Helga has now moved on to further studies in London where she plans to compete an MSc in commercial finance. We wish her every success with her studies and subsequent roles.