RCS
RCS Certification
What Is RCS?
Recycle Claim Standard
RCS stands for Recycle Claim Standard is used as a chain of custody standard to track recycled raw material through the supply chain. RCS is intended to use with any product that contains at least 5% Recycled Material. Each stage of production is required to be certified, beginning at recycling stage and ending at the last seller in the final business to business transaction and that can be traced back and verify through the process of TC – transaction certificate. it verifies the presence and amount of recycled material in a final product. RCS doesn’t address social or environmental aspects of processing and manufacturing, quality or legal compliance but it is the responsibility of each operation to demonstrate compliance which all applicable laws and regulations related to marketing, labor and business practices.
RCS based on two types of labels one is RCS 100 can be used for 95% to 100% recycled material and if product contains 5% to 95% recycled content then RCS blended logo shall be used and there are no other restrictions on the remaining material.
RCS is the voluntary certification program and is suitable for any organization i.e. large, medium and small considering improving its ethical practices and sustainability to meet the expectations of all stakeholders. RCS certification acceptability is going high day by day and mostly European customers demands RCS certification from their suppliers even it is becoming a pre-requisite of European retailers to start the business relationship with global supply chain. RCS awareness is also rising among end users of organic products even they are ready to pay some premium price against the purchase of organic products. Specially its requirements are rising in textile’s supply chain.
RCS standard was originally developed in partnership with outdoor Industry Association’s sustainability Working Group’s Material Traceability Task force in 2013. Textile Exchange It is a global non profit organization. This standard is also designed to ensure the chain of custody for preferred materials and to provide labelling tools for final product claims. Textile Exchange’s mission is to accelerate sustainable practices in the textile industry. This acceleration only happens when steps have been taken to ensure that actions taken toward sustainability result in real and meaningful change. This requires a strong understanding of the issues and a plan to substantiate the claims being made.
Benefits of RCS Certification
- Give the access in the market of organic products
- Meet the relationship criteria of new customers
- Helpful to capture the European markets
- Get business of organic products
- Improve customer confidence
- Improve credibility
- Provide quality assurance
RCS Certification Process
After finalization of agreement with client, Quality Systems’ experts visit to client’s premises and conduct the complete gap analysis of existing system against the RCS standard and discuss the gap report to the management, identified gaps could be in documents, implementation, social compliance, supply chain verification, traceability of records and products, employee’s awareness, statutory local laws compliances. We commence work according to the agreed timelines as per final gap report and proceed for the audit once all the documentation, implementation, and other requirements are done. Our technical team provides complete assistance, support and cooperation throughout the process to make certification audit successful in first attempt.
RCS certificate is not awarded once-and-for-all, it must be renewed before expiration of the certificate. After applying for the audit to the certification body, they conduct the initial audit. After the successful conduction of audit, certification body issues the certificate with validity of one year. After completion of one year of audit cycle re-audit will be conducted to continue the process of certification.
TC- Transaction Certificates Process
TC is the proof that confirms specific shipments from the company are RCS certified. To assure that a specific shipment of products received by a Certified Entity is RCS certified, the buyer can ask the certified supplier to provide a Transaction Certificate (TC). This certificate is issued by the RCS certifier of that supplier. RCS certifier also lists the concrete products and shipment details including the buyers name with address and declaring the RCS certification status of the shipped goods.
Cost of RCS Certification
Charges of RCS certification can not be flat or same for every organization, please contact us in this regard.
Why Quality Systems
Quality Systems is working with the team of qualified and experienced consultants and trainers having vast industrial experience, most of our consultants are also lead auditors who are aware to the expectations of auditors from your management system during the audit. Quality systems is assisting across the world to implement and achieve the RCS outstanding results. Our consultation methodology is highly professional, time bound and effective and we always add value to the business process of the client’s organization.
Our RCS Certification complete package comprised on following segments such as training, implementation, consultation, gap analysis, documentation, internal audits, pre-assessment, third party audit through world’s most recognized & accredited by IOAS Certification body, and post audit enhancement / maintenance services to enable your organization to get the best outcome of RCS. Our services are globally accepted, authoritative and benchmarked in the field of RCS audit.