Posted by Rene.Bross on 15. April 2009 10:30
You see the term and the logo used more and more often, on everything from catalogs to greeting cards, but what exactly does FSC Certified mean? I’m glad you asked.
The U.S. is the largest market for paper products in the world, producing 90 million tons of paper annually and, in-turn, consuming about 100 million tons. Currently only 35% of these 90 million tons is recycled fiber. And here's an interesting stat-- roughly 25% by volume of timber cut annually in the US is used for paper production.
FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council and it was created to foster sustainable forestry worldwide, which is a hefty goal. The FSC sets forth principles, criteria, and standards that span economic, social, and environmental concerns. The FSC standards represent the world’s strongest system for guiding forest management toward sustainable outcomes. The FSC’s international headquarters are located in Bonn, Germany. The .S. division of FSC opened its chapter in Washington D.C. in 1995.
Recycled fiber is a key element for responsible consumption and so are well-managed forests where the raw pulp begins. The Forest Stewardship Council works in tandem with the lumber industry to ensure that the wood fiber used to make paper comes from harvested forests that meet strict environmental and socioeconomic standards and never from old growth timber stands or rainforests.
Just like other forest products, in order to use the FSC logo as an "environmental claim" on paper, the product must have flowed through the FSC "chain-of-custody" from the FSC-certified forest, to a paper manufacturer, merchant, and finally printer who have FSC chain-of-custody certification. MyGoodGreetings uses a Bay Area Green printer that has achieved FSC chain-of-custody certification. While we could print the FSC certification logo on the back of our cards, we chose not to for aesthetic reasons. (FSC requires that their logo be reproduced at a size that’s much too big for the back of our cards. But rest assured, our paper stock is FSC Certified)
MyGoodGreetings made a conscious decision to support the Forest Stewardship Council goals by selecting papers, suppliers and printers that have achieved FSC certification.
To learn more about the FSC in the united states visit: www.fsus.org/paper
To learn more about the FSC worldwide visit: www.fac.org
For more on Forest Ethics visit: www.forestesthics.org
For more on the stocks that MyGoodGreetings uses visit: www.newleafpaper.com
