The Pure Option™ What is Sustainable Wood

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What is sustainable wood.

We all know that trees are a great carbon sponge (although Peatland is much better) and they also make a great material to 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 wood from one of the two main certification bodies.

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 one of the two 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.

These products tend to be our UK and European made products and not our non European products.

We can't stress this enough The Pure Option™ is not certified by FSC™, only the UK and European materials we use are certified by them.

Who are the PEFC™?

Like the FSC™ the PEFC™ the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, is a leading global alliance of national forest certification systems. As an international non-profit, non-governmental organization, we are dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management through independent third-party certification.

PEFC is a membership organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, we have more than 80 members located around the world, including national certification systems, NGOs, labour unions, business, trade associations, forest owner organizations and committed individuals. Our 55 national members are independent, national organizations that develop and implement the PEFC system within their country. While our 29 international stakeholder members include companies, organizations and associations whose principles and objectives are in support of ours.

We can't stress this enough The Pure Option™ is not certified by PEFC™, only the non European materials we use are certified by them.

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 & PEFC™ 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™ & PEFC™ 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™ & PEFC™ 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 responsible forest owners a FSC™ & PEFC™ member?

It's tough to get that certification, it isn't a pay and forget obligation as the FSC™ ( a case in point, see below) 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 mentioned as our product material manufacturers hold the certificates and they are assessed by the FSC™ or the PEFC™

We don't because the materials we use are ( we are considering a promotional licence, but currently we are not a member, only the materials we use).

We are debating on whether to apply for FSC™ promotional certification, but this is likely to not apply until 2026.

So how big is the FSC™?