Our forests are managed under a broad environmental management policy. FSC is the premier forest and forest product certification that is recognised worldwide by suppliers, retailers, and consumers.
We achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for responsibly managed forests in 1998. We hold the Chain-of-custody (COC) certificate covering the manufacturing of product through to completion. Chain-of-custody certification provides a guarantee about the production of FSC-certified products. Chain-of-custody is the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.
The Trademark of the Forest Stewerdship Council (FSC) indicates that the wood used to make the product comes from a forest which is well managed according to strict environmental, social and economic standards. The forest of origin has been independently inspected and evaluated according to the principles and criteria for forest management agreed and approved by the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC is an international, non-profit association whose membership comprises environmental and social groups and progressive forestry and wood retail companies working in partnership to improve forest management worldwide.
What Does Mixed Source Mean?
The mixed FSC credit system is one of 2-3 types of systems allowed by the FSC council. It provides for companies that cannot source 100% of its logs as FSC (most companies). A mixture of FSC and non FSC logs can be processed under this system. However this is only on condition that the non FSC logs meet specific criteria outlined in ‘controlled wood categories’.
The system allows a mill to sell the same amount out, labelled as FSC mixed source, as there are pure FSC logs fed into the mill (mulitplied by the mill conversion factor). We keep ongoing records to verify the input and sales of FSC Mixed product.
Controlled Wood Categories
For the purpose of compliance with this standard, the company shall control its controlled wood sources to exclude the categories outlined in FSC-STD-30-010 FSC standard for forest managers supplying controlled wood:
- Wood harvested from forest areas where traditional or civil rights are violated;
- Wood harvested from non FSC-certified forest areas having high conservation values which are threatened ;
- Wood harvested from genetically modified (GM) trees;
- Illegally harvested wood;
- Natural forest that has been converted to plantations or non-forest use