Benefits of Membership

Member Company Benefits

HIEA member companies enjoy many benefits including:

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• Community residents, City officials, and representatives of the Ministry of the Environment see member companies as proactive and responsible because of their association with HIEA and its favourable reputation.
   

• Local residents appreciate the direct access to company representatives that HIEA provides. HIEA reps are now the preferred source of information and the first contact for the community to call with their concerns – diverting calls from going directly to the MECP, city officials, or the media.​​

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• Working together to promote environmental education programs for youth.
   

• HIEA’s public consultation model is recognized as leading-edge both locally and provincially. HIEA participants have been invited to share our experience and expertise with the Hamilton Port Authority, City Planning and Sustainability staff, Provincial MECP officials, and five large Ontario Corporations to help them learn from our program and to use it as a benchmark for public consultation and risk communications.
   

• HIEA representatives have been invited to present our progress report at several public meetings including: as a case study during the “success stories” segment of an Upwind Downwind Conference organized by Clean Air Hamilton and at the Hamilton Harbour RAP annual workshop series. Presentations were made from both industry’s and the community’s perspectives.
   

• Member company representatives have also gained new relationships with neighboring companies. These new relationships have enabled a regular exchange of operational and technical information as well as local news from the community environmental network.

When asked: "Why are you a member of HIEA and what values do you see in this membership for your company?", our board members replied that they saw their membership with HIEA as an opportunity for:

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• A discussion forum for new regulations to aid in learning and proper application;

• Contacts for shared issues;

• Access to knowledgeable people for environmental issues;

• One of the key components of being a good corporate citizen is to make sure we preserve the environment in which we operate and deal with residential concerns. HIEA is our platform to both understand the pulse of the local community and a way to partner with various environmental groups; 

• Being associated with local industry groups working together to benefit the entire community;

• Leverage nominal membership cost by being associated with much larger annual environmental donations;

• Common industry face to the community, media, and local neighbours;

• Networking with environmental colleagues to address common issues.