The primary objective of this product stewardship initiative is to provide the impetus for improvement of product stewardship throughout the world’s fertilizer industries. Protect & Sustain is designed to enable organizations to measure their performance and benchmark it against the performance levels of the rest of the global industry.
The principle tool for checking performance levels and providing benchmarking data will be the Evaluation Tool.
In the future, as data becomes more available, performance levels will be able to be benchmarked on this web site.
Higher performance levels will be eligible for validation and full certification by a third-party auditor.
Validation
This step includes having your self-evaluation reviewed by an IFA-accredited auditor via a desk review, which will provide the first insight in your journey to full adherence and recognition.
The assessor may also inform an organization that on the basis of its self-assessed performance, it may be ready for external audit and certification. In such a case, an organization may commission the auditor to conduct a site assessment (based upon the completed Evaluation Tool) in order to gain certification.
Recognition levels
The Association offers its members the opportunity to have their performance evaluated by a third-party assessment agency. The participants will have a choice between two IFA assessment partners. The assessment provides both desk reviews of self-assessments, as well as site visits in order to issue certificates of adherence on the behalf of IFA.
There are currently three levels of recognition within the IFA scheme:
1. IFA Product Steward
2. IFA Product Steward Excellence
3. European Product Steward
To obtain the IFA Product Steward level of recognition, the participating company should conduct a self-assessment using the P&S Evaluation Tool. The evaluation will be validated by the IFA auditor through a series of site visits to a select number of company facilities.
A minimum of 1 point should be achieved for each mandatory question, with a minimum overall score of 60%. If the minimum requirements are met, IFA’s assessment partner will issue a certificate of conformance indicating the overall assessment score achieved. The participant will be certified for a three-year period. Following the first 18-month period, the participant must conduct a mid-term review in cooperation with the IFA auditor (desk review).
To obtain the IFA Product Steward Excellence level of recognition, the participating company should conduct a self-assessment using the company Evaluation Tool. The evaluation will be validated by the IFA third-party assessment partner through a series of site visits to company facilities.
A minimum of 1 point should be achieved for each mandatory question, with a minimum overall score of 80%. If the minimum requirements are met, the IFA assessment partner will issue a certificate of conformance indicating the overall assessment score achieved. The participant will be considered as IFA Product Steward Excellence. The participant will be considered certified during a three-year period. Following the first 18-month period, the participant must conduct a mid-term review in cooperation with the IFA auditor (desk review).
The participant will be publically-recognized by IFA on a dedicated section of the web site, and an article will be published in the IFA global newsletter to this effect.
European Product Steward certification level
Fertilizers Europe represents the major fertilizer manufacturers in Europe. In 2003, Fertilizers Europe created its Product Stewardship programme in order to improve the Health, Safety and Environmental aspects associated with the production, storage, distribution and use of fertilizers. When IFA launched the Protect & Sustain initiative in 2011, both associations saw an opportunity to cooperate closely.
This cooperation, has led to the agreement that as the European PS scheme would be integrated into IFA’s global Protect and Sustain programme at the highest level. Thus, each member of both Fertilizers Europe and IFA, after a successful audit, would automatically qualify for stewardship certificate. Now, all IFA members have the possibility to attain certification according to the leading European Product Stewardship standard.
Further details on the certification process can be found in the section, Get Involved... Get Certified.
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More about Protect & Sustain
The IFA SHE Principles
5 stages of the Product Lifespan
The Continuous Management Cycle
Hundreds of Stewardship "Champions"
