Australia’s first national standard for recycling facilities has been introduced, establishing a framework for independently assessing site-level performance across the sector.
Developed by Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) in partnership with the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR), the Australian Recycling Facilities (ARF) standard provides a benchmark for evaluating recycling operations on a site-by-site basis, recognising that performance can vary across locations and within organisations.
The standard sets criteria across environmental management, operational performance, transparency and accountability, health and safety, and social responsibility, with facilities independently assessed against these measures.
It also includes requirements for tracking and reporting recovered materials, pollution prevention, regulatory compliance, workplace conditions, and supply chain transparency, alongside provisions addressing hazard and emergency management and modern slavery risks.
The framework is applicable to all recycling facilities and offers a certification pathway for individual sites, while allowing organisations to certify multiple facilities.
The introduction of the standard comes as research indicates that 41 per cent of Australians do not trust that their recycling will be properly recycled.
Stacey Kelly, ecolabel certifications officer at GECA, said the ARF standard helps address this challenge by providing independent verification that facilities are delivering “genuine recycling outcomes”.
By establishing a national benchmark, GECA and ACOR say the standard is intended to support procurement decisions, encourage investment in resource recovery infrastructure, strengthen demand for Australian recyclate, and build confidence in the circular economy.
The standard aligns with national waste and recycling targets, including those set out in the National Waste Policy Action Plan, which focus on reducing waste generation, increasing resource recovery, expanding the use of recycled content, and improving data quality across the sector.
Applications for certification under the ARF standard are now open.
