Corporations taught to see the forest from the trees in environmental seminar

Guest speaker Mike Clark (pictured), senior advisor of sustainable and environmental affairs, M-real, said that the seminar was inspired by the number of questions being asked about certification and recycling. Though environmental issues have been of great debate to printing companies, the general public have often discarded these concerns. This is something that Clark hopes will change.




“As soon as President Bush accepts that there is a thing as
global warming we will start to pay attention,” he said.

The first step to environmental success is looking at your business in terms of the big picture, Clark said. “I think we need to get forest certification into a broader scope and dimension and think what it is we’re actually trying to achieve,” he said. “Whatever you do needs to be set in a strategy for your business.”

Speaking on how to develop a sustainable paper and paperboard supply chain based on his experiences with M-real, Clark outlined the company’s environmental policy and what benefits PEFC certification can offer a business. Clark was quick to point out that he was not using this seminar as a chance to promote his own company, advising the audience, “We don’t claim to be better than FSC; we claim to be different.”

PEFC has 193 million certified hectares of forest from 22 endorsed national schemes; it is also supported by 30 national independent certification schemes and their stakeholders.

Whether companies chose to use PEFC or FSC, Clark still advises that people must be dedicated to their cause. “You can’t stand still, you have to demonstrate that you’re committed to what you’re doing,” he said.