Why does Furniture have a Product Stewardship Council?

This article was contributed by AFISC.

Australia generates 30,000 tonnes of commercial furniture waste every year, and 95% of it ends up in landfill. Furniture is difficult to recycle by design: composite materials, glues and fire retardants that made sense for cost and durability weren’t chosen with end-of-life in mind. That gap is exactly what a product stewardship council exists to close, and it’s why the furniture industry now has one of its own in the Australian Furnishing Industry Stewardship Council (AFISC). 

What Product Stewardship Means

In Australia, product stewardship is a formal concept under the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020, which sets out three ways an industry can take responsibility for a product across its full lifecycle, from design through to disposal:

• Voluntary arrangements, where an industry body sets up and runs a scheme itself, which can apply for formal government accreditation.
• Co-regulatory arrangements, delivered by industry but regulated by the Australian Government, often with specific targets set in regulation.
• Mandatory schemes, where the government legislates requirements directly, typically only after voluntary efforts haven’t delivered results.

Most schemes start life as industry-led, voluntary efforts. The goal is to get ahead of a waste problem before the government has to legislate a solution, which tends to be more prescriptive and less flexible for the businesses involved.

Where AFISC Fits In

AFISC was established off the back of Furniture 360, an Australian Government-backed project that worked with the Australian Furniture Association (AFA) to design a product stewardship approach specifically for commercial furniture. AFISC is the industry-led body that came out of that work: it brings together manufacturers, retailers, policy-makers and the broader furnishing sector to build toward a circular economy for furniture, covering waste reduction, product longevity and better alignment with national procurement and waste policy.

Because it’s industry-led, AFISC’s early focus is on building the practical infrastructure that a circular furniture sector needs: shared standards, industry education, and tools that help both businesses and consumers deal with issues like complaints, repairability and end-of-life products.

Why Product Stewardship Matters

For procurement teams and businesses buying commercial furniture, a sector-wide stewardship body matters beyond the environmental case. Australia’s national Environmentally Sustainable Procurement (ESP) Policy is pushing government and large organisations toward suppliers who can demonstrate credible sustainability practices, and a coordinated industry body gives buyers a single, sector-wide reference point instead of piecing together each supplier’s individual claims. As more of the sector aligns behind common standards, comparing suppliers on genuine sustainability performance, rather than marketing language, should get considerably easier.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a product stewardship council?

A product stewardship council is an industry-led body that coordinates an industry’s response to the environmental impact of its products, typically covering waste reduction, recycling, repairability and end-of-life management across the product’s full lifecycle.

What is AFISC?

AFISC (the Australian Furnishing Industry Stewardship Council) is the industry body established to lead Australia’s furniture and furnishing sector toward circular economy practices. It grew out of Furniture 360, an Australian Government-backed project addressing commercial furniture waste, and was launched by the Australian Furniture Association.

Is product stewardship mandatory in Australia?

It depends on the scheme. Under the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020, product stewardship can be voluntary, co-regulatory (industry-run but government-regulated) or mandatory (legislated directly). Most schemes, including AFISC, begin as voluntary, industry-led initiatives.

Are there other product stewardship councils in Australia?

Yes. Examples include the Australian Bedding Stewardship Council (mattresses), Paintback (paint and packaging), and MobileMuster (mobile phones), each covering a specific product category.