Sustainable Resolutions from GECA Environmental News

Welcome to 2012! We hope you had a great feative season.

Good news! 2012 bodes well for ethical consumerism - a popular New Year's Resolution, says an IBISWorld Report.

Karen Dobie, IBISWorld General Manager (Australia) said sales of sustainably sourced and fair trade goods have risen in the past 5 years. "This sector will continue to gain strength in 2012 as consumers seek sustainable options in every aisle of the supermarket." Read more here.

And on that note - see Orange Power's new TV ad for their GECA-certified cleaning products (available in supermarkets) presented by Planet Ark's Rebecca Gilling (above)

GECA's Hard Surfacing Standard Accepted by GBCA for Green Star

GECA is proud to announce that the GBCA will now recognise products certified against GECA Standard 40-2008 Hard Surfacing at Level A, entitling conforming products to 100% of available Green Star points.

This is the fifth GECA standard to be recognised by the GBCA under their Product Certification Scheme, and is the result of a successful partnership between GECA, the Australian Stone Advisory Association and the Australian Tile Council to develop and promote the standard.

See: GECA's Media Release, and the Tile Today feature.

Green Procurement Training with GECA and ECO-BUY

GECA have formed a partnership with Melbourne-based green purchasing experts ECO-BUY to run courses on green procurement and supply chain in Sydney during the year.

Our jointly presented courses will include:

- Green Procurement Fundamentals: March 22, 9am-4pm, Sydney CBD (to gain a better understanding of green purchasing and its benefits to your organisation)
- Contracts and Tenders - May 15, 2012, 9am-1pm, Sydney CBD

For more information please see the ECO-BUY website.

For bookings and enquiries, contact Sara@geca.org.au or via 02 8399 3112. Spaces are limited so please book early!

Ecolabelling Speaker Event presentations now Online

The audio recordings and presentations from GECA's November 2011 speaker event: 'Does Ecolabelling Drive Sustainable Production and Consumption?' are now available online, at GECA's website, featuring:

Nick Bez, Research Director of Mobium Group's popular talk: "Ecolabelling to respond to the consumer appetite - confidence in green claims.",

Dr. Sasha Courville, Executive Director, ISEAL Alliance's confident statement "As to the question, does ecolabelling drive sustainable production? Yes it does."; and

Craig Jones, Sustainability Manager, Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety interesting case study of 'Ecolabelling in action at Westfarmers'

GECA in the Media

GECA organised the following media promotions for the period December 2011-January 2012:

DesignBuildSource (Interior Design section, above) features GECA's article: 'Reducing Volatile Organic Compounds'.

An ad in the latest InClean Magazine promotes licensees Agar, Derivan, Northfork and Castle Chemicals.

Tile Today Magazine (Dec 2011- Feb 2012) details GECA's partnership with the Australian Stone Advisory Association and the Australian Tile Council to achieve GBCA Green Star recognition for GECA's Hard Surfacing Standard .

GECA media release:' GECA Hard Surfacing Standard now recognised by the GBCA for Green Star'. Read it here.

The summer edition of The Executive Housekeeper Magazine features a double page spread on how use of environmentally certified products can support the green claims of hospitality service providers. Read the feature here.