Australian Paper gets FSC for Shoalhaven Mill

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international not-for-profit organisation that promotes the environmentally responsible management of the world's forests. Australian Paper now joins the more than 500 forest managers and 2500 producers that have committed to the accreditation.

Simon Talbot, corporate relations manager for Australian Paper, says the company sees the accreditation as a natural evolution of its environmental and social credentials.

“We believe the FSC brand is very strong and will be recognised and valued throughout corporate Australia,” says Talbot. “Gaining the accreditation required Australian Paper to critically scrutinise all our pulp suppliers and ensure only those with the highest integrity be allowed to deliver to site.

“We were forced to knock back two suppliers over the last 18 months who did not share the same ethical and environmental standards as ourselves, and we also modified site systems to ensure FSC compliance.”

Australian Paper’s Shoalhaven Mill was granted the FSC ‘Chain of Custody’ certification following independent verification, which confirmed that all the wood fibres used in manufacturing of the company’s speciality papers are either FSC Certified or FSC ‘Controlled Wood’ from well managed forests.

FSC Chain of Custody certification provides a guarantee about the production of FSC-certified products. Chain-of-custody is the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

Australian Paper confirms it is proceeding full steam ahead with its goal of achieving FSC certification across all of its operations. The Maryvale and Tasmanian mills are currently undergoing assessment with a view of gaining Chain of Custody certification by the end of the year.