THE environment watchdogs in Scotland and Northern Ireland have joined forces to help SMEs understand their environmental responsibilities and to encourage good practice.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) combined resources to launch a new NetRegs website that gives guidelines to help businesses comply with regulations.
Gillian Bruce, advice and engagement manager at SEPA, said: “We know that businesses often lack the time or resource to trawl through complicated legislation, so we have created NetRegs to reflect the needs of these businesses by making it as simple and efficient as possible. There isn’t a lot of plain language information out there for SMEs and we believe NetRegs fills that gap and will help such businesses save time, money and hassle.
“Good environmental management and compliance also makes good business sense and the NetRegs site has been developed to help SMEs in Scotland and Northern Ireland achieve their targets.”
Stephen Aston of the Northern Ireland agency added: “Many businesses already report that NetRegs is their primary trusted source of guidance on environmental legislation. We hope that the new site will help businesses not only meet their obligations but take opportunities to go beyond compliance.”
The new NetRegs site replaces its predecessor (NetRegs.gov.uk), which was run by the two bodies along with the Environment Agency of England and Wales.
