ORIGINAL ARTICLE Barriers and Difficulties Concerning the Implementation of an Environmental Management System in a Bakery-Confectionary Industry in Cyprus for 8 Years Irene Voukkali 1 & Pantelitsa Loizia 1 & Diana Mihaela Pociovalisteanu 2 & Antonis A. Zorpas 3 Received: 4 January 2017 /Accepted: 11 May 2017 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 Abstract Food industries are facing growing pressure nowadays to confirm that their activ- ities are environmentally sensitive, but there is also increased internal pressure to maintain or increase productivity as well as profitability due to market requirements. The main environ- mental issues for the food industries are water, energy and natural resources consumptions, solid and liquid waste management, chemicals, land use and air pollution. Therefore, it is necessary for each food industry to establish and implement an integrated management system to identify, manage and control those issues. EMS (Environmental Management System) is considered to be a tool in order to provide guidance and practical solutions to any kind of organizations to improve their performance on environmental aspects. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the barriers that arise during the implementation of an EMS in Cyprus food industry (acting in bakery and confectionary products) in the framework of the international standard of ISO 14001. The major problem arising from the implementation of the ISO 14001: Environ. Process. DOI 10.1007/s40710-017-0242-y * Antonis A. Zorpas antonis.zorpas@ouc.ac.cy; antoniszorpas@yahoo.com www.envitech.org Irene Voukkali irenevoukkali@envitech.org; voukkei@yahoo.gr Pantelitsa Loizia pantelitsaloizia@envitech.org; pantelitsa-loizia@hotmail.com Diana Mihaela Pociovalisteanu diana.pociovalisteanu@gmail.com 1 I.E.S.T - EnviTech Ltd, (Institute of Environmental Technology and Sustainable Development, Department of Research and Development), P.O.Box 34073, 5309 Paralimni, Cyprus 2 Faculty of Economics, Universitatea Constantin Brancusi din Targu Jiu, Targu Jiu, România 3 Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Environmental Conservation and Management, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Cyprus Open University, P.O.Box 12794, 2252, Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus