Forest Friendly Paper

It’s been an interesting week if you’re in the paper game (which I am), with Tasmanian forestry company, Gunns, getting a hammering on the sharemarket and in the press.

Now, I have to be honest, I’ve always been rather vocal about Gunns – carefully, they have a tendency to take legal action against people who say bad things about them (although I understand they have now dropped the case) – so there is a little bit of cheering going on inside. My theory for forestry companies whose practices are less than 100% environmentally sound, has always been, “get on board, or go out of business”!

Well, it looks like the time has come for Gunns to get on board – if they are able.

News articles, www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2807061.htm and www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/03/03/163051_business-news.html mention that Gunns is seeking Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) accreditation (for an explanation of what this is, click here). Without it, they can’t sell woodchips to Japan or anywhere else, or secure funding to build their pulp mill. And to get FSC, they are going to have to make a few changes in their business practices (e.g. stop logging old-growth and significant forests?!!)

As someone who has been involved in FSC in Australia (at least with paper products) from the very beginning, it is really rewarding to see all our hard work finally paying off. I was a promotions consultant for Spicers Paper when they introduced the first FSC certified paper product into Australia and obtained chain-of-custody certification. Our team eagerly took up the cause, spreading the word through design studios, agencies, corporates and printers throughout the country. Naturally enough, our competitors caught on too, and soon FSC Certified papers became de rigeur amongst commercial paper buyers.

It’s been a bit slower taking off in consumer markets, but that will happen too as ordinary citizens become more aware of the issues, and start recognising and asking for products that carry the FSC label.

Earlier this week, I commenced writing my environmental policy and rating system for our soon-to-be-launched consumer paper communications brand, Leaf.

As part of this policy, we will aim to use only FSC Certified papers, and label our products with the FSC label, wherever possible (occasionally an FSC certified product is not available in a product class).

There are other forest certification systems around such as PEFC, however, in keeping with some of the world’s leading environmental groups such as WWF and Greenpeace, I believe that only FSC offers the independence of an auditing system that is more robust than policies set by governments, who can be lobbied by powerful industry groups and companies. That’s just my cynicism speaking!

I also like that FSC doesn’t just look at environmental factors, but considers local employment issues, economic sustainability and indigenous people’s rights. Plus recycled papers can also be certified, because they decrease the pressure on scarce forest resources.

Unfortunately, not all our Leaf products will be able to carry the FSC label, at least not for the time being. A printer has to have FSC Chain-of-Custody Certification for this to happen, and as this represents a significant investment in time and money, many smaller printers are not certified. It just doesn’t make sense commercially. Yes, I could pick one that is, but at the end of the day, other factors such as quality, service, convenience and pricing all come into the equation.

That can all change by voting with our hip pockets, much like what happened years ago when CFCs in spray cans went from being widespread to a thing of the past virtually overnight. Well-informed consumers are powerful!

For example, just the other day, I had to make a choice. In Officeworks, I automatically picked up a pack of the cheapest envelopes. Then I looked at where they were made – Indonesia (which is renowned for illegal forestry practices). With no environmental labels, I wasn’t prepared to take the risk. So, I chose the Tudor Eco range instead even though they cost extra. They’re all brown and grungy, so it suits an environmental paper brand, but I could have easily have chosen white ones with an FSC label. Same goes for copy paper.

For the sake of a few dollars, is it really worth it? Think of the forests, the orangutangs, tigers, birds, Tassie devils, butterflies, flowers, bugs.

Choose FSC Certified products. Choose recycled paper products. Recycle your paper waste.

Make a stand.