Aspects
An environmental aspect is an element of an organization’s activities, products or services that has the potential to affect the environment. For example, the activity of making sandwiches can result in the disposal of food, plastic and paper waste, and use water, energy, and soap for cleaning. The aspects of this example activity are the disposal of food and materials (paper, plastic, cleaners), water use, and energy use. It should be emphasized here that aspects could affect the environment positively or negatively. For example, biodegradable food waste can be used for compost and can affect the environment positively.
The key questions to ask in identifying aspects are:
- Is the activity hazardous?
- Does the activity use natural resources?
- What are the ingredients of the materials used in the activity?
- How are the resources used and how are they disposed off?
- Can the disposed materials interact with the environment, people, and species?
Identifying aspects of an activity often requires reading the labels of materials used in the activity to find out more about their ingredients and their possible interactions with the environment.
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