NSW GOVERNMENT GREEN GLOBE AWARD WINNER CRITICAL OF GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICE AUSTRALIA (GECA) STANDARD

Announcement posted by INSTYLE CONTRACT TEXTILES 04 Nov 2010

Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) no longer recognises the Good Environmental Choice (GECA) Textile Standard in its Green Star Rating Tools

NSW Government Green Globe Award winner Instyle Contract Textiles is highly critical of the Good Environmental Choice (GECA) Textile Standard and is pleased that this standard is no longer recognised by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).

GECA claims its standards are ‘whole of lifecycle’ based, however this is not true. The GECATextile Standard is not lifecycle based because it does not address raw material extraction; energy, water nor waste; nor does it address recyclability or biodegradability.

Furthermore the GECA Textile Standard allows the certification of non-environmental fabrics such as PVC, polyester, acrylic and nylon, which are derived from a finite resource - petroleum.

The Green Building Council’s New Framework came into effect from the 1st July 2010 and it no longer recognises the GECA Textile Standard in its Green Star rating tool.

INSTYLE recommends that industry follow the Federal Government in not preferencing nor specifying GECA-certified products but rather specifying products that have been designed for the environment.

For more information contact: Michael Fitzsimons, Managing Director, Instyle Contract Textiles

P: + 61 2 9317 0250 E: mfitzsimons@instyle.com.au W: www.instyle.com.au

1st November, 2010

Background

INSTYLE is committed to the environment and to driving real environmental change. Instyle has won several high profile sustainability awards, including the following:

2010 WINNER Sustainability Green Globe Awards - Small Business Sustainability Award

2010 WINNER United Nations’ World Environment Day Award - Business Environmental Best Practice Program

2009 WINNER Sustainability Green Globe Awards - Business Sustainability Award

2009 FINALIST United Nations’ World Environment Day Award - Best Specific Environmental Initiative

2008 WINNER United Nations’ World Environment Day Award - Business Sustainability Award
2008 WINNER Sustainability Green Globe Awards - Premier’s Sustainability Excellence Award
2008 WINNER Sustainability Green Globe Awards - Industry Environmental Sustainability
2008 WINNER Sustainability Green Globe Awards - Small Business Environmental Sustainability
2007 FINALIST Banksia Environmental Award - Sustainability
2006 FINALIST Banksia Environmental Award - Sustainability