TRUE Zero Waste
OPERATIONS
CONFIDENCE HIGH · ANALYSIS ONLY, NOT AN AUDIT OR CERTIFICATION
Our read
TRUE certifies a place, not a thing. The mark belongs to a specific warehouse, plant, office or venue that diverted 90% or more of its non-hazardous solid waste from landfill, incineration and the environment over twelve months, with contamination in outbound streams under 10%. That 90% floor is a hard operational bar and most facilities do not clear it, which is what gives the mark its value. The error readers make constantly is treating a brand's TRUE certification as a statement about its products. It is not. A TRUE Platinum bottling plant can fill single-use plastic bottles with a formulation that would fail every product standard in this set. The certification describes what the site does with its own dumpsters, not what leaves in the trucks. Two further limits are worth knowing. The scorecard has no category minimums, so a facility can reach Certified with 31 of 81 points and score nothing in Zero Waste Purchasing or Upstream Management. And TRUE carries no carbon requirement; the greenhouse gas benefit is claimed by the programme, not measured by the standard.
What it covers
- A single physical facility or an event, and its waste and materials operations
- Minimum 90% average diversion from landfill, incineration including waste-to-energy, and the environment, over the most recent 12 months
- Contamination cap: no more than 10% contamination for any materials leaving the site
- A documented zero waste policy and compliance with all federal, state and local solid waste and recycling law
- Documented base year diversion data with adjustments for changes in size, type and nature of the business
- Annual submission of 12 months of diversion data to GBCI to keep certification current
- A scorecard of 81 possible points across 15 credit categories including Redesign, Reduce, Reuse, Compost, Recycle, Diversion, Zero Waste Purchasing, Leadership, Training, Upstream Management, Hazardous Waste Prevention and Closed Loop
- Four levels: Certified 31-37 points, Silver 38-45, Gold 46-63, Platinum 64-81
- Published case study of the facility's zero waste initiatives
What it leaves out
Not a criticism of the scheme. A standard is a scope, and this is where this one ends.
- Certifies a FACILITY, not a product; a brand holding TRUE says nothing about what is in the box
- Says nothing about product ingredients, packaging recyclability at consumer level, or product end-of-life
- No greenhouse gas measurement or reduction requirement; carbon benefit is asserted, not measured
- No requirement to earn credits in any particular category, so a Certified facility may score zero in Zero Waste Purchasing or Upstream Management
- Certified level requires only 31 of 81 points, roughly 38% of the scorecard
- Covers non-hazardous solid waste only; hazardous waste appears as an optional credit category
- Scope is the certified site, not the company, and not other facilities in the same company
- No supply chain, labour or sourcing criteria
- Certification review is largely documentation-based; on-site verification visits are at GBCI's discretion
The scheme
| Issued by | Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the certification body that also administers LEED, WELL, SITES and PEER |
|---|---|
| Where it applies | Global, predominantly United States |
| Audit and renewal | Projects registered on or after 1 September 2020: valid three years, with annual submission of 12 months of diversion data and recertification at the three-year anniversary. Projects registered earlier: no set term, maintained by annual data submission. Failure to submit annual data for three consecutive years ends certification. |
| Cost | Not published openly. GBCI charges a flat per-project registration fee plus a certification fee scaled to facility size, with separate fees for precertification, recertification, events, portfolios, expedited review and supplemental reviews. The fee chart sits behind a login on the TRUE website. |
What we read
TRUE Rating System, September 2017 (published as TRUE-Rating-System-2022.pdf with separate addenda); TRUE Recertification Guide 2023; Guide to TRUE Certification. TRUE v2 public consultation closed 31 March 2026 and v2 is not yet released.
- seven minimum program requirements and the 90% diversion threshold — Project has achieved an average 90% or greater overall diversion from landfill, incineration (WTE), and the environment for solid, non-hazardous wastes ... for the most recent 12 months.
- contamination cap — Project does not exceed a 10% contamination level for any materials that leave the site.
- 15 credit categories and no category minimums — Credits in the rating system are organized into 15 categories ... It is not required to earn a credit in every category and there are no minimum categories in which credits must be earned.
- certification levels and point thresholds — CERTIFIED: 31-37 points SILVER: 38-45 points GOLD: 46-63 points PLATINUM: 64-81 points
- certifies facilities, not products — TRUE is an Assessor-based zero waste certification program that rates how well facilities perform in minimizing their non-hazardous solid wastes
- three-year validity and annual data — TRUE certification remains valid for three years. Projects maintain certification by complying with the annual maintenance requirements ... and by recertifying every three years
- revocation and challenge policy — In rare situations, TRUE certification may be revoked ... A certification challenge may be initiated by GBCI or by any third party within 18 months of a project's certification.
- site visits are discretionary — GBCI may also at its discretion, request for conference calls and/or site visits (virtual or in-person) to ask for clarifications or verify the accuracy of information provided.
What we could not establish
The brief referred to seven credit categories; seven is the number of minimum program requirements. The rating system has 15 credit categories and 81 points. There is a documented tension between the 2017 Rating System, which describes an Assessor-based model with on-site verification informed by submitted documentation, and the current Guide to TRUE Certification, which describes a documentation review with site visits at GBCI's discretion; independence is scored 3 on that basis rather than 4. Could not retrieve the fee chart, which is behind a login. Could not locate a published register of revoked certifications. TRUE v2 is in development with consultation closed 31 March 2026 and no announced launch date; v1 remains the system in force.
Who holds it
Scored companies carrying this mark, highest first. Holding it is not the same as scoring well — the mark is one input of six.
| Company | Scope held | YKO score |
|---|---|---|
| Colgate-Palmolive | Not stated | 65.5 |
| San Francisco Bay Coffee | Not stated | 32 |
If you hold this certification, it is already on your record. What a buyer cannot see there yet is the evidence behind the parts this standard does not reach.