Printers give thumbs up to green paper

According to Kristina Holdorf, director of Urban Fresh Services, facilitator of FSC accreditation, the rise in FSC accreditation is part of the movement in the printing industry to differentiate on the basis of good corporate citizenship. “It’s the icing on the cake in regard to environmental stewardship. It provides a benchmark for your sustainability practices,” she said.

The strength of demand for FSC-certified sawn wood and paper has been phenomenal, according to Michael Spencer, coordinator of FSC Australia. “If you look at annual reports, there has been a 20 per cent increase of reports printed and specified on FSC certified paper with expectation of further growth next year,” he said.

Market demand for FSC certification services is continuing to increase, particularly for the paper and building products industries, said Dr. Robert Hrubes, Scientific Certification Systems. “This signals to forest managers that responsible forest management can be good for business,” he said. “These developments go hand in hand with the increase in value that companies and individual consumers alike attribute to environmental stewardship and responsible purchasing.”

Despite the growth there are still problems such as illegal logo use, lack of commodity grade stocks, paper mills being certified and products arriving unlabelled. These problems have also been noted in the overseas market and it is hoped that they will be eradicated with the arrival of FSC Australia.

FSC Australia will have its official launch on the 5th March at Zinc, Federation Square. For further information email info@fscaustralia.org.

For further information on FSC chain of custody email print@urbanfreshservices.com