Despite an increase in the use of digital communications, including social media and email, the demand for paper communication still remains at an all-time high. With tangible communications, such as letters, evoking importance, these types of communications increase engagement and interaction rates, ensuring important information is received and understood.
This ultimately contributes to the rising global consumption of paper, as companies set out to engage with their different audiences. However, with increased use, it is important to be aware that although paper can be both bio-degradable and recycled, it can also be the product of deforestation and poor forestry practices if not sourced sustainably.
So how can businesses source sustainable paper, that doesn’t destroy the world’s forests? Well, here at CFH we do that by using FSC-certified paper.
The FSC, Forest Stewardship Council®, is a global, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of responsible forest management worldwide. FSC defines standards based on agreed principles for responsible forest stewardship that are supported by environmental, social, and economic stakeholders. To learn more, visit www.fsc.org.
Since its foundation in 1994, the certification system has grown to become the leading forest certification system, helping protect over 195 million hectares of the world’s forests by encouraging businesses and individuals to use sustainably sourced products.
As a part of this, the FSC system ensures that products, such as wood and paper, have been harvested in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. It ensures that the production of such products does not provide detrimental impacts to our forests and our planet.
One of the Two of FSC’s certifications is the Chain of Custody certification, which is usually what businesses are certified against. It provides a way in which the material can be tracked from the certified initial source through the manufacturing process to the end user.
The FSC also have Forest Management Certification that forest managers or owners can sign up to, ensuring their forests meet and maintain the national and internationally agreed standards of responsible forest management, supporting sustainability.
Across the world there are;
- 200 million hectares of forest are certified to FSC standards
- 50,000 companies that hold FSC chain of custody certification
- 1000 companies hold a promotional licence
- 1000 organisations are FSC members
FSC certified paper is paper that is sourced from FSC certified forests and other controlled sources. These types of forests are independently audited to meet the FSC's principles and criteria and managed with the people, wildlife and environment taken into consideration.
FSC’s 10 principles ensure that all forests:
You can tell when a product is FSC certified as it will either come from an approved FSC supplier, which will most likely be displayed on the company’s website, or it’ll have the FSC logo on the paper itself (as pictured below).
Here at CFH, all of our paper products are FSC approved and you will find this logo on them.
Every product that comes from an FSC-approved supplier is backed by a diverse ecosystem of forest managers, businesses, non-profit organisations and others who are committed to upholding a common set of responsible forestry standards that support:
Here at CFH, we recognise that what we do as a business will have an impact on the environment. We are dedicated to reducing this as much as possible by ensuring our practices are environmentally friendly and sustainable.
As a company that produces paper-based communications, it’s part of our company values and goals to reduce our environmental impact including the sourcing and use of paper. As part of our environmental policy, we proactively promote the use of FSC certified products, which are subject to Chain of Custody (CoC) controls.
Over 90% of the paper products we purchase are certified papers, including envelopes. By using certified FSC paper, we know that we are protecting our forests and sustainability sourcing all the paper we use.
Our use of FSC Certified paper also directly benefits our customers, as those who request FSC Chain of Custody paper allows them to promote their own environmental credentials and sustainability commitments to their end users.
To find out more about the other environmental schemes and processes we have in place, take a look at our blog.
CFH FSC license number: FSC-C006025
