Renewal of Recognition of Freshcare Environmental Program – Reef Assured

Freshcare has recently achieved renewal of recognition of the Freshcare Environmental Edition 3 (ENV3) – Reef Assured Program under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, by the Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) and the Office of the Great Barrier Reef and World Heritage.

The renewal of the recognition of the Freshcare Environmental Program – Reef Assured ensures growers certified to this program, are recognised for the systems they have in place that are already verified by third-party audits.

As an accredited program Freshcare Environmental – Reef Assured audits for Banana growers in reef catchments, verify the specified application rates and record-keeping requirements in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act, and in alignment with the existing Freshcare Environmental compliance criteria.

“Reef Assured” is the category added to the Freshcare Environmental Certificate for Banana growers fully certified and achieving the Reef Regulation requirements. These certified producers will then be the lowest priority for regulatory inspections.

The Reef Protection Regulations established by the Queensland Government to protect the Great Barrier Reef, apply to all banana producers in the Wet Tropics, Burdekin, Mackay Whitsunday, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary regions (download the Great Barrier Reef catchment and river basin map).

To support renewal of recognition, updates were made to program rules and supporting resources and communicated to participants directly. Additional information on the Reef Assured program and resources can be found here: www.freshcare.com.au/resources/reef-bananas