USW Paper Workers Challenge “Digital Only” Green Claims

DS Smith, the leading provider of sustainable packaging, has today announced its membership of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International, which promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. Since the acquisition and integration of Interstate Resources and more recent acquisition of Europac, DS Smith now owns over 14,000 hectares of forest assets across North America, Portugal and Spain. FSC is the world’s most trusted sustainable forest certification system. More than 200 million hectares of forest worldwide are FSC-certified, and DS Smith joins the certification system as part of its forestry stewardship policy and overarching sustainable approach to management.

It's no secret manufacturing facilities use a lot of energy to make the cars, phones or, in Georgia-Pacific's case, paper towels that we use every day. But what if there was a way to encourage these facilities to reduce their energy consumption? It's a question Betsy Dutrow, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR® industrial team leader, and her team asked. Their answer? The ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry. The ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry is a voluntary pledge manufacturing facilities make to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent in five years or less. It's open to manufacturing facilities across the world, and there are no penalties for mills that don't reach that number. Dutrow says, "It's an aspirational goal that, while it may sound difficult, is one we believe most facilities who take the challenge will end up achieving. We have seen energy intensive sites achieve a 10 percent reduction when they initially thought they would not. Additionally, we have seen plants in other industries reduce their energy consumption by as much as 30 and 40 percent." click Read More below for additional detail

Who wins the sustainability argument: the cotton shirt or the polyester shirt? Unfortunately, there is no simple way to call the winner. Choosing sustainable materials is one big positive step businesses - and consumers - can take towards climate action. In an important webinar organised this month by the Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFF) Singapore, industry experts spoke about the sustainable material trends and what lies ahead. What are the preferred materials and why it makes a difference? PEFC was represented in the webinar by Deepa Hingorani, who has 20 year's experience within the fashion industry. She explained to the online audience that PEFC chain of custody is a mechanism to trace certified material from sustainable forests to the finished product.