With China no longer willing to accept material from Australia for potential recycling, there is a national discussion about what can and cannot truthfully be labelled as “recyclable” going forward in Australia. Standards Australia has played a lead role in the development of standards on environmental labelling as the Secretariat of the ISO TC 207 SC 3 Environmental labelling which has published a number of environmental labelling standards. CFA representative John Henry is a participating member of the Standards Australia Technical Committee EV-021 Environmental management and a Registered Expert on ISO TC 207 SC 3.
A new updated version of ISO 14021 provides internationally agreed criteria that can be applied to specific environmental claims, such as ‘recyclable’; which is more important than ever now that China is no longer accepting Australian waste for recycling and we have to process it locally.
Consumers can influence standards by becoming a Consumers’ Federation of Australia representative on a Standards Australia Technical Committee, making public comment on draft standards and suggesting new standards. If you are interested in finding out more about the Project and/or becoming a volunteer CFA Standards Representative please contact the Standards Coordinator at standards@consumeraction.org.au