Home > Environment > Certifications

Certifications

With the help of certified forestry programs, forests can be both a renewable and sustainable natural resource. Forests are renewable because they have the ability to continue growing themselves. They are sustainable in that they can be replenished indefinitely provided more trees are grown than are harvested and lost to fires, insects, diseases and radical environmental changes. By maintaining strict environmental standards and independently auditing for compliance, forest certification programs ensure that soil, air, water, wildlife and trees receive proper care. More importantly, the standards regulate the balance of harvesting and replanting. If all the certification standards and qualifications are met, a forest may be certified sustainable. Wood and paper products that come from the forest can also be certified. This includes everything from office paper to paperboard packaging to furniture and wood flooring. Selecting certified products supports the forests.

Chain of Custody: The best kind of certification! Tracks the certified material through the production processes all the way to the store (tree to pulp to paper to shelf).

FSC: Forest Stewardship Council is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. The FSC applies its standards to about 254 million acres (102.79 million hectares) of forests in over 81 countries. » FSC step by step

SFI: SFI Inc. is a fully independent, charitable organization dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management. The standard is used widely across North America, and has strong acceptance in the global marketplace so we can deliver a steady supply of third-party certified wood from well-managed forests. There are 149.7 million acres (60.6 million hectares) of independently certified lands across North America that have been audited by accredited certification bodies.
» SFI step by step

PEFC: The PEFC Council (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, founded in 1999, which promotes sustainably managed forests through independent third party certification. PEFC is a global umbrella organization for the assessment of and mutual recognition of national forest certification schemes developed in a multi-stakeholder process. PEFC accounts for more than 200 million hectares of certified forests worldwide producing millions of tons of certified timber to the market place making it the world's largest certification system. » PEFC step by step

Certification is a voluntary means of verifying conformance to a standard set forth by an independent organization. Certification of forestry-related operations represents the highest standard of stewardship and traceability that a company can provide when customers are sourcing wood fiber used to make paper and packaging products. The diagram below depicts the journey of trees from the forest to the customer — and the points at which operations can be certified by specific standards.

Third-party certification is employed elsewhere in the marketplace to provide consumers with assurances of good practices. For example, accounting methods and reports are third-party certified for financial reporting, attesting to the validity of the accounting procedures and accuracy of the reports. Similarly, third party certification attests to responsible management of forests and fiber sources. Lindenmeyr-Munroe supports the existence of multiple certification standards to increase the amount of certified fiber. Multiple certification standards also suggest the concept of mutual recognition, which acknowledges that responsible forest management can be achieved through a number of credible certification systems. For instance, PEFC is a global umbrella organization that recognizes national certification standards and supports the promotion of sustainable forest management and chain-of-custody. PEFC recognizes the SFI program, Cerflor (Brazilian) Standard, the Canadian-based Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and many other certifications.

The diagram below depicts the journey of trees from the family forest owner to the customer — and the points at which operations can be certified by specific standards.

The management, harvest and reforestation of forestlands can be assessed by conformance to a responsible forest management standard. Forests can be certified to a number of forest management certification standards, e.g. SFI, FSC, Cerflor. International Paper, which no longer owns much land in the U.S. controls the purchase and harvest of wood fiber through certification to a procurement management standard. The overall flow of wood fiber can be tracked and monitored by implementing a chain-of-custody system.

Certification and chain of custody are terms that are often used interchangeably; however, they actually describe two different but related processes. At the root of all certification systems is the goal of protecting forests so that they are economically viable while providing enjoyment and environmental benefits for today and the generations that follow. A chain of custody certification is a system that tracks fiber movement from the forest to the consumer and allows companies to make claims about the percentage of certified and/or recycled fiber within their products, Organizations must choose the standard that is appropriate for their operations and demonstrates responsibility to customers.

Top