FSC™ paper comes from trees, but trees that are replaced with lovely new trees.
We all know that trees are a great carbon sponge and they made a great material to make paper and cardboard from, but felling trees, and not replacing them is irresponsible and bad for the planet and with this in mind, all of our paper and cardboard products are made using Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™).
Who are the FSC™?
FSC™ is a not for profit organisations founded in 1994 to promote and certify responsible management of the worlds forest, they are now the worlds most respected and trusted wood certification body and their logo is now a symbol of responsible and environmentally positive wood, paper and cardboard.
If like all of our paper and cardboard products, it has the FSC™ certification means the wood is sourced from a well managed forestry stock.
So why does this matter ?
Forests cover 31% of the land mass of the world and they are one of the worlds natural purifiers of water and air but on top of that , they are a home to a huge number of species, in fact 3/4 of the worlds land based animals rely on forest for it's habitation but their most important use is a natural carbon sponge that soaks up the worlds greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere making the climate crisis considerably worse.
They are the second most important carbon sequesters (the removal of carbon from the environment) with the first most important being peatlands ( everyone forgets about this one).
So what is the problem and how does FSC™ certification eliminate this?
The world has a problem with illegal logging and this is a huge problem as in 2019 alone, the equivalent of 30 football fields (Soccer if your American) are lost every minute, the problem has become so a big issue that the Amazon region alone has 17% of its forestry sources in under 50 years.
The FSC™ works with landowners to monitor the processing of wood on their lands to make certain it is causing environmental damage and trees are planted to replace the trees felled.
So what are the benefits of using FSC™ certified wood sources?
The benefits are
- Long term preservation of forests as the forest owners are taught about applying best practise to preserve the natural environment within their forests.
- FSC™ fosters ethical and responsible relationships with the community that leads to employment and empowerment of the workers.
- You know if you see it's FSC™ your purchase causes no harm and provide benefits for the environment and the community.
- Membership encourages forest owners who aren't felling responsibly to need to change their approach to obtain access to the FSC™ market, basically if they can't encourage landowners to do the right thing, they can financially encourage land owners to do the right thing.
So why are all forest owners a FSC™ member?
It's tough to get that certification, it isn't a pay and forget obligation as the FSC™ closely monitor it's members to make certain they are abiding by the environmental and ethical principles that membership certifies, plus it shows commitment to sustainable forestry as it comes with a high price tag.
After passing the strict process of membership the forest owners and processors are annually audits but it's an investment in a sustainable world.
So is The Pure Option a member?
The Pure Option™ is not a member as our product material manufacturers hold the certificates and assessed by the FSC™
We don't because the materials we use are.
So how big is the FSC™?
- 160 million hectares are now certified.
- 50,000 companies hold FSC chain of custody certificates.
- 1224 international members in 89 countries.
UK Figures
- 1,652,516 certified hectares.
- 2,221 chain of custody certificates.
- 23 Forest management certificates.
The temperature bit
Wood is a great material as its renewable and recyclable and good for the environment.
Sources