What is the Role of Certification?
Most of us want to reduce waste and make better use of the materials around us. That’s where circular economy principles come in: the idea of keeping materials in use longer, cutting waste, and relying less on virgin resources. When it comes to forest products, this means reusing and recycling timber in a responsible way. But how do we know these materials come from sustainable sources? That’s where certification plays a role that you might not be aware of.
Bringing Circular Economy into the Classroom
The concept of a circular economy is gaining momentum in everyday conversations. As industries, businesses, and governments shift towards circular solutions, it’s also becoming a bigger focus in education. Programs like ForestLearning are helping bring these ideas into schools by providing teachers with resources that connect circularity and sustainable forest management to real-world applications. These resources also align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those focused on responsible consumption (SDG 12), climate action (SDG 13), and life on land (SDG 15). By integrating circular economy principles into education, students can develop a deeper understanding of how responsible sourcing, recycling, and certification play a role in shaping a more sustainable future.
Certified Recycled Materials
For designers, engineers, and builders, specifying and sourcing sustainable materials is becoming a priority. Not just for environmental reasons but also to meet client expectations, building standards, and green rating systems. Certification plays a key role in ensuring that recycled timber is as sustainable as it is beautiful.
It’s often not widely known that chain of custody certification doesn’t just apply to virgin materials, it also promotes the use of recycled content as a certified input, ensuring that reclaimed wood and other forest-based materials meet strict sustainability standards. Responsible Wood and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) provide certification for products containing recycled materials sourced from forests that meet strict sustainability criteria. The PEFC Recycled label helps consumers and businesses identify products that contain verified recycled content from PEFC-certified sources.
“Many people still don’t fully understand the sustainability credentials behind forest and chain of custody certification, let alone the role of recycled material in this space. It’s not just about responsibly managed forests. By promoting recycled materials within the supply chain, certification supports resource efficiency and reduces pressure where resources are scarce.” adds Matt de Jongh, Responsible Wood Sustainability Manager.
Certification isn’t just a label, it ensures that recycled materials are responsibly sourced, meet high environmental standards, and support transparent supply chains. It also plays a role in contributing to reducing waste and conserving natural resources by giving timber-based materials a second life beyond their intended use.
Jonathan Tibbits, Marketing Manager at Responsible Wood & Lead on PEFC’s New Project Certification Requirements, added his thoughts,
“Sustainability expectations are evolving, and certification must keep pace. By strengthening recognition of recycled materials within PEFC and Responsible Wood certification, we better align with best practice, market trends and stakeholder expectations. This also ensures stronger alignment with global green building certification frameworks, providing greater clarity and confidence for architects, designers, and project developers.”
What Counts as “Recycled”?
The Responsible Wood chain of custody standard AS 4707-2021 has a clear definition of what qualifies as recycled material. It includes:
- Post-consumer waste – things like old timber furniture, construction materials, or pallets that have reached the end of their original use but can be repurposed.
- Recovered industrial materials – offcuts and waste from manufacturing that would otherwise be discarded.
However, not all leftover timber products count. By-products from sawmilling, such as sawdust and bark, aren’t considered recycled under this definition, as they’re often used in other processes rather than being discarded. While sawmill by-products like sawdust and bark may not meet the formal definition of “recycled” under chain of custody standards, they still play an important role in circularity. They are often repurposed for energy, compost, or secondary products, ensuring minimal waste across the supply chain.
A New Standard for Recycled Timber
To support the growing use of recycled wood, Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA) has launched the country’s first national standard for grading recycled decorative timber: FWPA Standard G02 – Recycled Timber: Visually Graded Decorative Products.
For building and design community, using recycled timber isn’t just an aesthetic choice, it’s an opportunity to contribute to sustainability goals while ensuring durability and compliance. The new FWPA standard provides the assurance needed to specify recycled timber with confidence, knowing it meets clear quality and grading benchmarks. It provides:
- Clear grading rules to ensure quality assurance
- A framework for compliance and verification
- Guidance for professionals specifying recycled timber in projects
- More confidence in using recycled wood in decorative applications.
Developed with input from industry experts, this standard helps create consistency in the market and ensures that recycled timber products meet reliable benchmarks.
Why does this Matter?
Bringing certification and recycled timber standards together helps drive a more sustainable future built environment. It means less waste, better resource management, and greater confidence in using recycled wood. Whether you’re a builder, designer, or consumer, knowing that timber products are responsibly sourced, (whether new or recycled), helps contribute to a more circular economy.
Interested in how certified recycled timber can fit into your next project? Explore the FWPA Standard G02 and discover how Responsible Wood certification can bring both sustainability and quality to your designs.
If you’d like to learn more about FWPA’s new standard, check it out here: FWPA Standard G02
Did You Know?
An estimated 6.7 million tonnes of timber waste is generated in Australia annually, and a large portion ends up in landfills despite being suitable for reuse or recycling (Source: Australian Government, National Waste Report).
