Planet Lighting has become the first manufacturer in Australia to receive independent TM66 certification for its luminaires.
The technical memorandum, which measures the circular performance of luminaire, was developed by Cibse’s Society of Light and Lighting in 2021.
The document won a prestigious Build Back Better Award and was quickly adopted by the lighting industry.
Major lighting design practices and organisations are using the metric in their procurement and specification policies, and many manufacturers have rated their luminaires on the TM66 scale, which gives a number between 1 and 4 similar to a vehicle’s NCAP safety rating.
Planet Lighting’s LED Puck achieved a TM66 rating of 2.6, while its larger sibling LED Puck ‘Mega Puck’ got a score of 2.5. The LED Puck Air, a catenary-based system achieve 2.6 while the Focus Integral, a luminaire designed for aquaculture applications, received the company’s highest score at 2.7. The scores were independently assessed by the Lighting Industry Association.
Planet Lighting is a four-generation family business located near Dorrigo National Park which it describes as ‘a constant reminder of our commitment to environmental responsibility and the creation of long-lasting, sustainable lighting products’.
TM66 has been in a preliminary ‘beta mode’ since its introduction but now its
development team, along with the founding partners and parallel organisations, are working on the official first version of the standard.
Sections of the document likely to change include:
• Materiality, the identification and appropriately scoring of those aspects of a luminaire’s design, materials, construction or ecosystem that have the most impact on circularity
• Precision and transparency, especially related to language, reporting and evidence
• Greenwashing, the reduction of the possibilities of the metric being used to make misleading or false claims about the environmental benefits of a light fitting.
TM66 has two key tools which the experts will review. These include CEAM-Make, a tool for manufacturers to complete which comprises 66 questions under four tabs – product design, manufacturing, materials and supporting ecosystem.
Each question is rated and then scored between 1-4, where 1 is status quo and 4 is outstanding.
At the end of the assessment a total is generated, and a high score indicates a lighting product with good to outstanding Circular Economy credentials.
Another tool in the document is CEAM-Design, a demand-pull tool which contains 20 questions and is aimed at designers or specifiers to enable them to quickly understand what level of circular performance a not-yet-tested product has. Again, at the end of the assessment a total is generated.
• Learn about TM66 at Circular Lighting Live 2026, Recolight’s flagship conference and exhibition, which takes place on Thursday 8 October 2026 at the Minster Building in the City of London. Free to specifiers, Circular Lighting Live 2025 will feature leading experts, specifiers and policy makers who will share their insights into forthcoming standards and legislation, emerging technologies and new business models. More info: www.circularlighting.live
