Good Environmental Choice Australia

For a PDF version of this media release click here.

Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) is proud to announce important changes to its ecolabelling program as it launches the GECA Certification Scheme Rules from 1 April 2011.
The Scheme Rules are a set of operational guidelines that detail how the GECA Ecolabel and Certification process will operate from 1 April 2011; as well as how GECA, its auditors and licensees will work together. The Scheme Rules provide transparent, robust and comprehensive rules for the operation of GECA’s Environmental Choice Australia program.

GECA was the first third-party ecolabel on the Australian market and is still the most recognizable. It has provided consumers and manufacturers with an independent, reliable and convenient way to make environmentally preferable choices since 2001.  

GECA is a not-for-profit organization that operates to ISO 14024 principles for their Type 1 ecolabel, and is the only Australian member of the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN).  Judy Hollingworth, GECA’s CEO, states,        “As the pioneer of ecolabelling in Australia, implementation of the Scheme Rules is a critical part of our commitment to global best practice and continuous improvement of our program.”

The pursuit of best practice dictates that only auditors, or ‘Conformance Assessment Bodies’ (CABs) as they are called in the Scheme Rules, who have demonstrated their competence and independence by gaining JAS-ANZ[i] accreditation are able to audit for the GECA program.

GECA congratulates NCS International (NSCI), one of Australia’s foremost independent third-party verification and auditing bodies, on achieving JAS-ANZ accreditation to audit for the GECA Certification Scheme from its launch date on 1 April 2011.  

NCSI will operate as sole auditor from 1 April for an interim period; GECA expects to announce the availability of other JAS-ANZ accredited CABs in the coming months.

 “Adoption of the new Scheme Rules and the appointment of NCSI as the first of a panel of independent Conformity Assessment Bodies will strengthen the organisation’s successful delivery of credible eco-labelling now and in the future,” said Hollingworth “It will help GECA in continuing to raise Australian purchaser and manufacturer interest in taking practical steps to contribute to environmental sustainability generally.”

All enquiries about the GECA Ecolabel Program should be made directly to GECA on 02 6287 3100.                                                                                       

Further information, contact:
Anne-Marie Byrne                                                            
GECA Business and Marketing Director                     
Ph: 02 8284 7782
E: anne-marie@geca.org.au                                          

Links:
‘GECA Scheme Rules Frequently Ask Questions’:
http://www.geca.org.au/the-scheme-rules.html
Further information about NCS International:
http://ncsi.com.au/downloads/GECA_SCREEN.pdf

[i] JAS-ANZ (Joint Accreditation Standards ANZ) is a government appointed body responsible for providing accreditation of Conformance Assessment Bodies (CABs) in the fields of certification and inspection in Australia and New Zealand. See: http://www.jas-anz.com.au/

Good Environmental Choice Australia is very pleased to release the final version of GECA 25-2011 v2 Floor Coverings.  This is the fourth in a series of five standards that GECA has revised and finalised following recognition in 2010 by the GBCA (Green Building Council of Australia) under its program of Green Star Product certification Schemes.

Now in its final form and ready for auditing, GECA 25-2011 v2 Floor Coverings replaces the GECA 25-2010 draft and supersedes the previous standard GECA 25-2005 Floor Coverings.  Changes from the previous standard include addition of new materials requirements and total VOC limit and criteria for material efficiency.  It now encompasses parquet, wooden planks and engineered wood products including laminate, linoleum, bamboo, cork, rubber and vinyl. 

The GBCA has confirmed that products certified under the GECA 25-2011 v2 standard will be recognised at Level A, entitling conforming products to 100% of available Green Star points.   This standard corresponds with the Flooring Calculator in the GBCA’s Green Star rating tools.

GECA’s suite of five GBCA-recognised standards covers this and four other standards:

·         Furniture and Fittings, Level A and B versions of which were released as finals in December 2010,

·         Panel Boards, released in final form in February 2011 and

·         the soon-to-be-released Level A Carpets standard.

GECA is a not-for-profit organisation whose Environmental Choice Australia program offers a Type I (third party) multi-sector ecolabel that operates in line with ISO 14024 principles.  This means our standards are based on international best practice, scientific research and take a cradle-to-cradle approach.  They are trusted and widely recognised in Australia and in 40 Global Ecolabelling Network nations as independent, stringent, robust and transparent.

To view the standards in full on the GECA website, click here.

Further information about Green Building Council of Australia recognition of GECA standards is available here.

We at GECA thank you for your ongoing interest and support as we continue to offer type 1 ecolabelling develop standards based on ISO  pursuit of quality environmental products and services.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information on this exciting update.

Good Environmental Choice Australia is pleased to announce the release of a new standard for fully finished furniture– GECA-28 Furniture and Fittings 2010 and therevision of existing standard – GECA-28 Furniture and Fittings 2006 (Modified 2010.) 

GECA has now released GECA-28 Furniture and Fittings 2010 in its final form. This release comes after three phases of public and industry consultation and review with manufacturers and other interested parties. This standard covers seven categories of fully finished home and office furniture products: office chairs; office desks and tables; domestic chairs; domestic desks and tables; bedroom furniture; fittings; and recycled furniture. 

The GBCA (Green Building Council of Australia) has confirmed that products certified under the 2010 standard will be recognised at Level A, entitling conforming products to 100% of available Green Star points. The 2010 Standard does not recognise ceiling tiles or furniture other than fully finished furniture. The 2010 furniture standard is now in operation (as of 16 December 2010).

Rather than discontinuing the GECA-28 Furniture and Fittings 2006 (Modified 2010)standard upon release of the 2010 Standard, GECA has decided to retain the 2006 version in an amended form until July 2011. This will enable manufacturers to obtain certification under the (modified) conditions until 13 July 2011.

Under the 2006 modified standard manufacturers and distributors of furniture can seek certification where the product utilises fabric, but where the full range of potential fabrics are not assessed at the time of certification. The 2006 Modified Standard will run in parallel with the 2010 Standard (until 13 July 2011).

It has been confirmed by the GBCA that until the release of the GBCA’s new material calculators, products certified under the Modified 2006 Standard will be recognised at Level A, entitling conforming products to 100% of available Green Star points.  After the release of the GBCA’s new materials calculators, the Modified 2006 Standardwill go to Level B and products certified against the Modified 2006 Standard will be entitled to 80% of the available Green Star points.

          There will be further consultation in 2011.

GECA is also announcing a consultation process for situations where the full range of fabrics cannot be assessed at the time of certification.  The purpose of this consultation is to seek views on whether or not GECA ought to develop a mechanism for certification of furniture where the fabric, which is ultimately to be applied to the furniture, is not identified at the time of certification. The consultation process will invite manufacturers and other stakeholders to participate.  In developing standards for environmentally preferably products, GECA considers whether or not a standard should contain provisions relevant to each potential environmental impact.

Details of the consultation will be made available by February 2011.

As a result of these developments, manufacturers have three options for obtaining GECA certification:

1) to seek certification under the new 2010 standard;

2) to maintain existing certification, or seek certification, under the modified 2006 standard; or

3) to wait for the outcome of the 2011 consultations, regarding situations with furniture products where the fabrics to be used are not all known at the time of certification.

In December 2010 GECA released two standards for the category Furniture and Fittings. GECA 28-2010 applies only to fully finished furniture and is recognised by the GBCA to Level A. Products certified under this standard are eligible for 100% of Green Star points with the GBCA. GECA has also retained a Level B standard in this category (GECA 28-2006 modified 2010). This standard is recognised by the GBCA to Level B, granting products certified under this standard 80% of Green Star points in the GBCA’s Material Calculators. GECA also released a technical note in December to describe the differences between these two standards in detail.  The technical note can be viewed on the GECA website. www.geca.org.au  

At that time GECA announced that it would release an issues paper as part of the consultation process to seek input on whether or not GECA ought to develop a mechanism for certification of furniture where the fabric or other material, which is ultimately to be applied to the furniture, is not identified at the time of certification.

About GECA
GECA is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the production and consumption of environmentally preferable products and services. GECA is a national, third-party, independently verified Ecolabel and is internationally recognised as the Australian member of the Global Ecolabelling Network.

GECA writes standards for environmentally preferable products. Manufacturers may apply to be certified as compliant with GECA standards. Certification is granted if a GECA approved auditor[1] assesses that a product complies with the relevant standard.

[1] From April 2011 GECA intends that auditors will become JAS/ANZ accredited.

The problem
Textile manufacture may have significant environmental impacts with respect to the production of different fibres and yarns. Each fibre has distinct environmental issues associated with the growth or synthesis, processing, spinning, dyeing, and/or finishing. Depending on the fibre composition of a given textile, this may include pesticide use during production; chemical use and water emissions from scouring, spinning and dyeing; emissions of volatile organic compounds during production of synthetic fibres; and use of hazardous substances or biocidal agents in finishing treatments.

These potential environmental impacts may then have flow-on effects for any product that incorporates textiles. GECA 28-2010 applies to “fully finished furniture”. In order to award a certification under this standard the GECA assessor must be able to determine that the fully finished product will comply with the standard.

GECA understands that in the furniture industry, there are situations where some elements of the product, in particular the textiles used to finish furniture, are not known at the time that a piece of furniture is certified. For some manufacturers this is the normal situation for particular product lines.

Furniture in this situation cannot currently be assessed against GECA 28-2010 no matter what percentage by weight the fabric will contribute to the product. This is because the standard requires that the final product uses textiles certified by one of a number of named ecolabels; satisfy the requirements of GECA 19 Textiles; or alternatively be free of specified hazardous materials (Clause 5.1).

Currently this type of furniture can be assessed against GECA 28-2006 modified 2010 as that standard is not limited in its application to fully finished furniture. This standard specifically caters for the situation where a textile that may be used to finish a product is not known at the time of assessment by an auditor. This standard however:

-          will be retired on 13 July 2011, and

-          has only been assessed by the Green Building Council at Level B.

GECA needs to determine whether or not it should continue to offer certification for furniture where a component cannot be assessed at the time of auditing, and if so on what basis.

The key questions to be resolved as part of this consultation are:

1.      Should the GECA label be available where some element of the product, and thus its environmental impact, is not known at the time of auditing?

2.      If so, in what circumstances?

Basis for GECA’s approach
The purpose of the ecolabel is to encourage and recognise sustainable production practices.

GECA sets standards that will comply in general terms with ISO 14024, the international standard for Type 1 Ecolabels. Relevantly a Type 1 ecolabel

-          is certified by a third party (that is it is not self-certified by the manufacturer)

-          uses a life cycle approach

-          applies to the a product as a whole

In considering possible approaches GECA needs to consider the approach that will have the maximum benefit for the environment. Within this context considerations include:

-          the degree of environmental harm or risk of environmental harm,

-          whether the approach supports the integrity of the Standard,

-          whether the approach can be readily communicated to stakeholders including suppliers and purchasers, and

-          the ability of suppliers of sustainable furniture products to comply with the standard.

It needs to be remembered that the GECA Furniture and Fittings standard applies to consumer furniture purchases and business and government purchases outside the context of Green Star rated projects as well as to Green Star purchases.

Possible Approaches
GECA has identified four possible approaches.

1.      Only to certify furniture where the applicant can demonstrate at the time of auditing that the fully completed furniture will comply with the standard.

2.      To provide a conditional certification that may be used to promote the furniture without fabric provided that it is clear to purchasers that the certification does not apply unless certified or otherwise compliant textiles are used.

3.      To provide a conditional certification that allows any textiles to be used apart from specifically disallowed textiles which are known to include hazardous materials.

4.      To permit certification of furniture and fittingsregardless of the textile used to finish the furniture. This approach could be taken either by amending the current standard to allow such furniture to be certified under the Furniture and Fittings Standard or by creating a standard solely for this situation.

Relevant considerations include how best a GECA standard can minimise the environmental load of furniture manufacture, and the commercial practicalities of the industry.

GECA has committed to reviewing the GECA 19 Textiles standard to address many of the issues related to environmental performance in textile manufacture. However, the application of textiles to furniture still needs to be assessed with respect to GECA 28 Furniture and Fittings.

The relationship between GECA Standards and GBCA Green Star scheme
GECA certification is often obtained by manufacturers that sell their furniture products to the green building market. The Green Building Council of Australia provides that using products certified under GECA 28-2010 will entitle a project to 100% of the available points towards a Green Star rating.

It is important to note that GECA Certification is not limited to the green building market, and GECA standards are not written only on the basis that they will be used to obtain points towards a Green Star rating.

GECA expects that a revised furniture standard that adopted approaches 1, 2 or 3 listed above would result in Level A recognition by GBCA (although that cannot be guaranteed until a final standard is submitted).  Approach 4 may or may not be recognised by GBCA at that Level.

The process to be adopted
GECA has now published this consultation paper together with a short survey. The purpose of the survey is to enhance GECA’s understanding of how textiles are currently being used in the furniture industry including selection by manufacturers, customers and architects/designers.

GECA seeks response by Friday 18th March. GECA will consider the responses and publish a draft resolution by the end of May 2011. If the responses suggest that a new standard or amendments to GECA 28-2010 are required, then normal timeframes for public consultation on standards will be adopted.

Responding to this Paper:
GECA will accept the following input into this process

1.      Written responses to any issues raised by this paper, and/or

2.      Written responses, including anonymous responses, to the accompanying survey related to some of the detailed issues.
 
You can find a Furniture Colsultation Survey on the GECA Standards page

We announced last year that we would offer a selection of independent auditing services from April this year… now we're delivering on that promise.  We are very pleased to confirm that two alternative auditors are now preparing to deliver auditing services for GECA certification:  NCS International Pty Limited (NCSI) and Davis Langdon Certification Services (DLCS).

We congratulate NCS International on becoming the first JAS ANZ accredited auditor to join us in providing assessment for licensing under new, streamlined, GECA Certification Scheme Rules.   These Scheme Rules mainly describe how GECA and its auditors will work together from April 2011 and we will send a summary of the changes and any transitional arrangements to you by mid March.  The main change for existing licensees is:  you will soon have a choice of auditors to assist you with seeking or extending GECA certification. 

JAS ANZ (Joint Accreditation Standards  ANZ) is the government-appointed accreditation body for Australia and New Zealand responsible for providing accreditation of conformity assessment bodies (in GECA's case, its environmental auditors) in the fields of certification and inspection. Accreditation by JAS-ANZ demonstrates the competence and independence of such auditors.

NCS International are already accredited by JAS ANZ for product certification services and have applied for an extension of scope to include the GECA and its Environmental Choice Australia ecolabelling program.   Together with GECA, NCS International will have finalised their extension of auditing scope by April.   Mick Berry, General Manager, Operations advises that NCSI are pleased to have expanded their  services offering and are looking forward to delivering accredited auditing services to both new and existing GECA licensees.  For more information about NCSI's GECA-certification services, please visit http://ncsi.com.au/downloads/GECA_SCREEN.pdf

GECA continues to lead the market as the first Australian Ecolabel using independent verification of environmental claims.  We are proud to welcome NCSI as the first JAS ANZ accredited auditor available to GECA licensees and to have achieved another important milestone in the continuing refinement of the GECA ecolabelling program.
For those of you in Melbourne during the Green Cities Conference, we'd also like to invite you to join us and say hello at GECA's stand. We look forward to greeting as many licensees as possible during our time there.

Finally you will note from today a we have carried out a minor upgrade to our website design to make it easier to find the information that you - and others interested in GECA-certified products -  need on our program and licensees. We are continuing to work on improving the ability of our website to promote the ecolabel and your licensed products.

 Anibou was founded in 1972 and established in Australia in 1988 with the aim to distribute high quality designed furniture. The products are made in a way which helps to reduce environmental impact of manufacture, from the production of raw material to finished solutions for the workspace.

The company holds the ISO 9001 quality management systems certificate and the ISO 14001 environmental management systems certificate.

In addition, Anibou provides interior design solutions for work offices and public environments.

Anibou's collection features furniture from Finnish designers Artek, Avarte, Piiroinen and Korhonen, alongside Bauhaus and German designs featuring the work of Marcel Breuer, Mies Van Der Rohe, Mart Stam, Norman Foster, Glen Oliver Löw and James Irvine. Anibou also carries the work of local designers such as Neil Burley, Caroline Casey, Gary Galego, Jon Goulder, Johann Larsson and Paul Morris.

It is the Artek range of furniture that has been awarded the Environmental Choice Australia Mark. The renewable wood materials utilized in the product line are sourced from sustainably managed forestry operations. For more information about Anibou's GECA certification click here

We are very excited to be heading off to Green Cities in a few short days! We are certain it will be an exciting and informative event as always. As sector partners, we have a number of benefits that include our logo displayed on the Green Cities 2011 website and our logo and recognition in the Green Cities 2011 delegate handbook. This means some great exposure of the GECA label for all our licensees. The fifth annual conference will be held in Melbourne from Sunday 27 of February to Tuesday 1 March, with green building site tours and master classes on Wednesday 02 March 2011. The program can be viewed online at the Green Cities website: http://www.greencities.org.au/

GECA has also opted to take out a stand in the exhibitors hall this year which will further increase our presence at the event. And we are not alone! We will have 5 valued licensees co-exhibiting with us: Australian Workplace Manufacturers, Wood Educational Furniture, Style Ergonomics and Regupol who will furnish the GECA stand with some of their certified products. A great opportunity to showcase the quality products that are GECA certified at the event. And Independent Cement and Lime will be providing the stand with some colourful brochures of their Ecoblend Cement.

Are you attending? Come and say hello to Judy and Sara at the stand, or floating around in the sessions.

We’ll report back soon on all the insights that we gain about the future of green buildings and communities.

We are very pleased to announce the release of the final version of GECA’s revised Panel Boards Standard, following public consultation on the 2010 draft version and integration of feedback.

GECA 04-2011 Panel Boards is now available here and is ready for assessment of products that seek certification against this standard.

This standard has been awarded Level A Recognition by the Green Building Council of Australia under its Green Star program for Product Certification Schemes. Further information about GBCA recognition of this and various other GECA standards can be found at http://www.gbca.org.au/green-star/materialscategory/product-certification-schemes/2933.htm

We are also close to finalising the Floor Coverings and Carpet Standards and will notify you of the respective release dates soon.

We take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing interest and support of GECA in 2011. Please do not hesitate to contact Jill O’Keeffe our Standards Manager on 02 6287 3100 if you require any further information on this exciting update.

Perfect timing for our new licensee's Fuji Xerox Australia (welcome!) with the release of the Story of Electronics http://storyofstuff.org/electronics/ - a great little animation from the good people at The Story of Stuff.

Green Capital in partnership with ECO-Buy, supported by Connection Research, is exploring the ever-expanding world of eco and ethical labels and sustainability certification processes, including how they affect procurement professionals, businesses and consumers. They invite you to help them research this important area:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/sustlabelling2010