Global GreenTag International wins special Commendation at the Product Stewardship Excellence Awards 2022

Global GreenTag International wins a Commendation for Excellence in Digitalisation for Product Stewardship at the Product Stewardship Excellence Awards 2022.

Global GreenTag International Certification Sales Brett Hazlett receives the Commendation

A well-deserved Commendation that celebrates Global GreenTag's sustainability mission that currently yields the certification of over 16,000 products for over 230 manufacturers with factories in over 22 countries has been honoured by the Product Stewardship Excellence Awards for providing quality data in support of the wider adoption of product stewardship programs among manufacturers.

Global GreenTag International CEO & Program Director David Baggs said: "We are very proud to see this level of acknowledgement for Global GreenTag's years of hard work to set out a solid and reliable digital platform that showcases circular, sustainable and healthy products."

"It is also important to point out that without our manufacturers and their commitment to sustainability through vigorous product stewardship programs, none of this would be possible."

Receiving the Commendation on behalf of Global GreenTag International at the Awards night in Sydney were Brett Hazlett & Olivia Xing who work with the certification needs of green manufacturers daily. Brett is the lead for Global GreenTag International Certification Sales and Olivia is GreenTag's sales representative in Australia.

Global GreenTag's sales representative in Australia Olivia Xing proudly holds up GreenTag's special Commendation

The criteria for the award category that Global GreenTag entered judged how digitalisation for product stewardship recognises use of digital thinking and technology in schemes, initiatives or program operations, communications and education to maximise sustainability performance and circularity.

The award winner of the category was REMONDIS Australia and their very innovative product stewardship tracking app. Judges were challenged to make a decision and finally decided to make a special Commendation to honour GreenTag's work in the sector, "which said a lot about the calibre of all of the entries and award recipients," said Brett Hazlett.

"The Awards and organisers, the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence, which includes long term sustainability warrior John Gertsakis on the leadership team, are really doing a great job of putting product stewardship as front and centre and absolutely necessary for industries across the board," Brett added.

"It was an exciting night. Some exceptional work is being done to progress product stewardship. We were also doubly proud when Dulux Australia, who have certified products with Global GreenTag, picked up the Award for Best Stewardship Outcomes – Individual Business or Brand (Large companies 200+ employees) for Dulux Trade's paint pail return-recycle scheme. A brilliant initiative."

Dulux Australia receives the Award for Best Stewardship Outcomes – Individual Business or Brand

From its roots with Ecospecifier (an original leader in the digital space to bring green product information to green projects) till now, Global GreenTag is consistently helping to build additional trust into the green marketplace, providing globally trusted certification standards recognised in Australia and in over 170 countries.

ABOUT THE PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

The Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence was established in December 2020 by a consortium of UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures, the Australian Industry Group and Cox Inall Communications in partnership with the Australian Government through the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.

The Centre supports and mentors companies to design-out waste while also keeping products and materials circulating in the economy. Core to the Centre's work is training, workshops and guidance tools to help industry design and manufacture products so that they are easier to reuse, repair, recover and/or recycle. The Centre also provides advice to the Australian Government on priority areas for stewardship action.

See below for latest news from the centre!

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LATEST Media Release from Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence - November 8, 2022

Ministers List Release Underlines Stewardship as the Solution

The Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence today welcomed the release of the Minister's 2022-2023 product stewardship priority list.

Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek has listed three additional products (tyres, mattresses and plastics in healthcare) that will now become the focus of efforts by industry, Government agencies and institutions such as the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence to implement product stewardship solutions.

"The Minister's List process places product stewardship as the most efficient and cost-effective way to reduce a product's impact on the environment and human health," Centre of Excellence director Rose Read said.

"Tyres and mattresses have voluntary stewardship schemes in place that need more support from industry, or, face Government regulation," Ms Read said.

"While there are some excellent single brand initiatives in healthcare plastics, much work is needed to create an industry-wide solution," Ms Read said.

Solar panels, electrical products, child car seats, oil containers, clothing textiles and problematic/single use plastics remain on the Ministers List from previous years.

The Australian Government flagged its intention at the recent Environment Ministers Meeting to develop a regulatory product stewardship scheme for solar panels and household electronics which have been on the list since 2016-17.

"This year's list is the first to reflect the views of both the business community and the public following the Government publicly seeking nominations for the list late last year, as well as input from federal, state, territory and local government agencies and the Centre of Excellence," Ms Read said.

In line with the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 (RaWR Act 2020) the Australian Government consulted with the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence in preparing the list.

"The Centre will be proactively working with the product industries listed in helping them develop and implement solutions to minimise the environmental and human impacts of their products across the entire lifecycle. From designing out waste and pollution to keeping these products and materials in use as we transition to a decarbonised circular economy.

"Being on the Minister's List brings heightened scrutiny, focus and resources from the Government and support from institutions such as the Centre of Excellence," Ms Read said.

"The way off the Ministers List is either by establishing industry-led initiatives that reduce the whole of life environmental and human health impacts of their products or being regulated by government," Ms Read said.

"The Centre advises and mentors businesses, industries and product stewardship initiatives seeking to establish or improve their approaches to prevent future environmental and human harm of their products, as well as supporting voluntary product stewardship initiatives applying for Australian Government Accreditation under the RaWR Act," Ms Read said.