Understanding Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)

So unless you’ve been under a rock for the past four years, you’re familiar with the term Forest Stewardship Council or FSC Certification. The nickel definition of the FSC employs a few key points:

1.) That the logging, milling, manufacturing, and handling of paper is done so to protect the sustainability of the forest, the waterways, wildlife, and indigenous peoples of the surrounding area, and

2.) That every party that handles FSC certified stock does so to comply with very rigorous handling requirements. The SFI or Sustainable Forestry Initiative follows nearly identical compliance requirements.

Well then, what makes the two different? To start it should be known that some of the key differences are that:

1.) The FSC carries more brand recognition because of their successful global-marketing efforts. Though, I’ve been seeing SFI billboards on the highway lately.

2.) The SFI carries has significantly more options in both premium and low-grade sheets. This is because many of our North American paper forests are owned by small private forest owners, and simply, it costs far less to carry the SFI certification for these private owners.

As Acme is both FSC and SFI certified, I have no partisanship in either. To dig further into this, I was directed to International Paper’s, "Sustainability Update" (June 2007), which provided me with the graphic below (click on picture for a full-sized image):

As I always, I invite any further questions that you have about this topic. It’s certainly a big topic that I’ve tried to compress into a few short paragraphs.

The Truth About Where Your Paper Comes From

Pictures! Yes, I thought to post this picture after discussing clear-cutting, the tactless logging technique used by some paper manufacturers, with a colleague (at this point, most colleagues in the print world are probably saying, "What the heck is he doing pointing this out!").

There are some benefits to properly managed and planned clear-cutting (for vegetation patches that require heavy sunlight). But here's what you should know about improper clear-cutting:
1. It's the most efficient way to produce paper, making paper prices lower.
2. It often detroys much wildlife in the process.
3. It makes the land (and mainly the soil) un-usable for a long time, because it removes the necessary decomposition cycle to grow vegetation.
4. Clear-cutting can cause intense erosion, which causes severe mudslides.
5. It's aesthetically unpleasing (but you can see that in the picture!).

HOWEVER, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) insures that logging is done selectively, so that our forests are maintained. There are many paper manufacturers that produce brands only with FSC certification, so that you can still receive the same competitive pricing as previously. As an FSC certified printer, I also recommend heavy recycled content paper.