FSC Certification (Forest Stewardship Council)
Sexton Printing, Inc.
successfully completed FSC COC certification in 2007.
If you are like John, my client in the manufacturing industry, you will want to know more about FSC:
- What is it?
- What does it mean?
- Who is FSC certified?
- Plus, even more information!
FSC is a global benchmark for responsible forest management and its counterparts - SFI, PEFC, CSA-SFM; who generally seek to ensure that wood based products meet prescribed SUSTAINABLE standards from the forest to the consumer.
Sustainability is the ability to provide for the needs of the worlds current population without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves. Or, the ability to be carried out over and over without negative environmental effects or impossibly high costs to anyone involved.
Who:
Forest Landowners initiate the certification process voluntarily. Once engaged, certifiers and landowners enter a contractual relationship to evaluate the forest against FSC Standards.
°NOTE: FSC standards vary according to the forest's location and landowners whose forest operations pass the assessment may elect to sign a FSC certification contract, which requires annual audits and a full assessment every
5 years.
Chain of Custody:
Use of a FSC trademark or any Forest Stewardship Council reference requires that a product manufactured from pulp or paper MUST originate from wood logged in a FSC certified forest.
Also, a paper mill, manufacturer, paper merchant, printer and distributor with FSC Custody (COC) certification MUST handle it.
Objective:
The main objective is to ensure that FSC Certified material is tracked through the supply chain between operations and production processes within guidelines.
FSC COC Requirements:
An auditor will verify that a facility (like Sexton Printing), has a control system in place to identify eligible sources for our product range and to prevent FSC certified or reclaimed material from getting mixed with materials from forests where there is a social conflict, and from uncertified high conservation value forests where genetically modified organisms are used.
WHO IS FSC certified:
Sexton Printing became one of the 1,032 certified US companies according to the September 2007 FSC data.
10 Principles of FSC certification:
All FSC certified forests throughout the world MUST meet 10 principles and 57 criteria that address legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits and environmental impacts surrounding forest management.
- Compliance with laws and FSC principles
- Tenure and use rights and responsibilities
- Indigenous people rights
- Community relations and workers rights
- Benefits from the forest
- Environmental impact
- Management plan
- Monitoring and assessment
- Maintenance of high conservation value forests
- Plantations
The Right Logo for the job:
Here are the main FSC logos plus a few others for you to review.
°NOTE: Be sure to build some extra time into your production schedule when you want to include these logos on your job. The FSC has 5 variations and are very strict with usage rules.
You MUST use a FSC certified printer (like Sexton) in order to carry the FSC logo or lanquage as we
The right logo (2.4 mb .pdf)
Some FSC Certified Papers for you to consider:
You are probably asking what papers are FSC certified right now. Here are a few for you to consider, keep in mind there are others. (Be careful with foreign grades, there have been reports of some saying they are that aren't)
Tri Cert Products (1.2 mb .pdf)
This is a lot of info!
Hopefully it has been helpful and has given you a better understanding of FSC certification and why Sexton Printing decided to become one of the approved printers.
If you have a production issue not discussed above that you would like me to address, or a project that needs to be looked at, please give me a call or send me an email. I will do whatever it takes to ensure you get the best value for every marketing dollar invested.
Referrals are greatly appreciated, if you know someone I could help, or who might like to receive TK's Korner, http://tkskorner.com please let me know.
Take care and have a great day!
Successfully,
Tom Kubinski, Printing Consultant
tkubinski@sextonprinting.com
Direct: (651) 255-1225
Cell: (612) 760-3700
