crcCARE (Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment) is a leading independent organisation dedicated to tackling one of the world’s most pressing challenges: environmental contamination.
Through advanced research, technology development, and policy guidance, crcCARE works to safeguard soil, water, and air from pollutants that threaten human health, ecosystems, and economic prosperity.
Founded in 2005 under the Australian Government’s renowned Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) programme, crcCARE was established to unite industry, researchers, and government in a common goal – understanding, preventing, and remediating environmental contamination.
After securing a second major round of national funding in 2011, the organisation expanded its impact through major research partnerships with top universities, CSIRO, government regulators, environmental consultancies, and industries such as mining and defence.
Even after Commonwealth CRC funding concluded in mid-2021, crcCARE continued its mission with renewed support from existing partners and newly joined collaborators.
Today, the organisation remains a powerful connector, bringing together stakeholders who rely on rigorous science and practical solutions to solve real-world environmental contamination problems.
Driving innovation through four research pillars
crcCARE’s work is anchored in four coordinated research programmes, each addressing a different dimension of environmental contamination:
- Understanding Emerging Chemicals: This programme investigates newly identified contaminants and develops principles, indicators, and policy strategies to guide national frameworks. By staying ahead of emerging chemical risks, crcCARE helps governments and industry prepare for threats before they escalate.
- Preventing Pollution, Avoiding Landfill and Recovering Resources: Here, crcCARE develops cutting-edge analytical methods and field technologies that enable rapid, accurate assessment of site contamination. These tools support faster decision-making and help industries avoid landfill use by identifying opportunities for waste recovery and resource reuse.
- Next-Generation Clean-Up Technologies: This area explores how contaminants behave over time, how groundwater interacts with surface ecosystems, and how volatile compounds migrate through the environment. By understanding contaminant dynamics at a scientific level, crcCARE pioneers more effective clean-up techniques.
- A New Paradigm for Managing Risk: This programme focuses on improving in situ (on-site) management of contaminated areas. crcCARE develops new technologies and indicators that enable safer, more sustainable remediation without the need for costly removal or off-site treatment.
Remediation and environmental services
At its core, crcCARE specialises in remediation – the process of cleaning up or containing contaminants to reduce their impact.
Because each site is unique, crcCARE conducts detailed assessments and designs tailored remediation strategies that may involve on-site treatment, containment, removal, natural attenuation, or a combination of methods.
Beyond remediation, crcCARE offers an extensive suite of services:
- Consulting: Access to expert guidance, world-class facilities, and a broad collaborative network.
- Research: Custom research programmes aligned with specific industry or organisational needs.
- Analysis: Real-time measurement tools and analytical techniques for assessing contamination and environmental quality.
- Waste management: Innovative evaluation of treatment and disposal pathways based on waste characteristics and environmental risk.
A commitment to health, environment, and industry
By integrating scientific discovery with industry priorities, crcCARE ensures its innovations deliver both economic and environmental value.
Its work reduces community exposure to toxic contaminants, restores urban and natural environments, and helps industries manage risks responsibly.
Through collaboration, innovation, and a deep commitment to addressing environmental contamination, crcCARE continues to build a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable future for Australia and beyond.
