ACOR's Accreditation Program
The Australian Council of Recyclers (ACOR) is scoping development of a voluntary recyclers’accreditation program through an initial program design issues and options assessment. This initial scoping includes a feasibility study to assess what an accreditation program could achieve and how it would work. This discussion paper is to canvass your views on the accreditation program, namely to:
It is envisaged to be a risk-based approach. Activities that are deemed a higher risk in the recycling supply chain will be the initial focus of accreditation processes. As such, and in the current climate, it may be material recovery facilities (MRFs) that are an initial focus with accreditation expanded to other downstream businesses such as processors, recyclers and manufacturers once the fundamental program has been established and operating.
A core purpose of the program will be to ensure consumer / user confidence and the reduction / management of reputational risk for the overall industry. The aim is to design an accreditation program for ACOR members, and it is anticipated that the scheme will not compete with, but will complement, existing programs and systems to raise standards to best practice.
Such programs include, but are not limited to, those that currently exist for self-developed industry standards (for example, Australian Tyre Recyclers Association accreditation and those designed and implemented by other waste and resource recovery associations), industry developed material standards external specific operational standards (for example AS/NZS 5377 for e-waste) and external general standards (for example ISO 14001 and ISO 9001).
You can read more on ACOR's new proposed accreditation program here.
- Present the concept of a program to accredit ACOR members with respect to operational performance, accountability and reputation
- Generate feedback on developing and maintaining an accreditation program
- Generate feedback on what elements would form a transparent and robust accreditation scheme
It is envisaged to be a risk-based approach. Activities that are deemed a higher risk in the recycling supply chain will be the initial focus of accreditation processes. As such, and in the current climate, it may be material recovery facilities (MRFs) that are an initial focus with accreditation expanded to other downstream businesses such as processors, recyclers and manufacturers once the fundamental program has been established and operating.
A core purpose of the program will be to ensure consumer / user confidence and the reduction / management of reputational risk for the overall industry. The aim is to design an accreditation program for ACOR members, and it is anticipated that the scheme will not compete with, but will complement, existing programs and systems to raise standards to best practice.
Such programs include, but are not limited to, those that currently exist for self-developed industry standards (for example, Australian Tyre Recyclers Association accreditation and those designed and implemented by other waste and resource recovery associations), industry developed material standards external specific operational standards (for example AS/NZS 5377 for e-waste) and external general standards (for example ISO 14001 and ISO 9001).
You can read more on ACOR's new proposed accreditation program here.