Spanish forest certification system submitted for endorsement

The Foil & Specialty Effects Association (FSEA) has joined Two Sides North America, the non-profit organization that promotes and encourages the responsible production, use, and sustainability of print and paper. “Two Sides welcomes FSEA to its growing network of members. Through this partnership we will be able to reach many more organizations and individuals in the graphic communications world. We look forward to working with them,” said Two Sides North America President, Phil Riebel. “FSEA realizes the importance of educating our members and providing information for them to share with their customers on the sustainability of print and paper,” said Jeff Peterson, Executive Director, Foil & Specialty Effects Association. “Two Sides North America has been instrumental in marketing the truth about print and paper and we want to do all we can to help with this effort.”

“Greenwashing” is now a term most of us are familiar with. It means “the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service or technology.” Terrachoice[i] found that over 95% of “greener” products commit one or more of the seven “Sins of Greenwashing,” so it’s a major problem in the marketplace. Paper products in particular seem to suffer from many unsubstantiated and vague claims, especially when it comes to corporations trying to promote electronic services over paper-based communications. The bottom line is that corporate marketers need to follow certain specific guidelines for environmental marketing, such as those published by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission[ii], and in Canada by the Competition Bureau of Canada[iii]. If they don’t, their company could face corrective action by the FTC[iv]. The International Standardization Organization (ISO) also has a series of standards on environmental declarations (ISO 14020) and has classified environmental claims into three categories – Type I, Type II and Type III.

With the expiration of the Russian National Forest Certification Scheme on 31st August 2015, PEFC International advises that all certificates issued against the Russian Scheme are no longer recognized by PEFC. PEFC limits the validity of endorsements of national forest certification systems to five years. National systems are required to revise their respective standards in multi-stakeholder processes to become eligible for re-assessment and potential re-endorsement. This allows for continuous improvement of standards through the integration of new scientific research, experience and best practices. Equally important is that it encourages ongoing social dialogue among stakeholders, thereby enhancing mutual understanding, support and further development of the concept of sustainable forest management at national level.