On the 4th of July 2007 Cartiere del Garda was awarded the PEFC™ (Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) Chain of Custody Certification, and became the first Italian coated paper manufacturer to do so.
The company made a corporate decision to demonstrate its full compliance with CEPI's requirements by issuing a strategy document addressed to its members (Position paper on Forest Certification, FOR/063/05 Final).
CEPI and its members declare that, for the purpose of their responsible purchasing and manufacturing practices, they:
- support all credible certification systems, notably FSC and PEFC
- do not promote discrimination and
- do not show any preference between fiber certified through major systems,
as they all ensure consumers that responsible forest management practices are taking place on the ground.
PEFC certification also underlines that Cartiere del Garda uses pulp originating from sustainably managed forests.
As its primary objectives, PEFC certification promotes forestry management via certification, provides a guarantee to purchasers of wood and paper products and reinforces the image of the forestry industry and wood as a renewable raw material.
A "Chain of Custody" certificate provides a company with proof that it has a system for tracing the wood back through all the steps of the chain until reaching the paper manufacture stage.
In order to obtain certification it must therefore prove that the pulp used originates from controlled or certificated sources and does not therefore come from controversial sources.
Furthermore, when another company acquires certified paper and therefore becomes certificated, it is then able to publicise this traceability via the chain of custody mark right up until the printed product.
PEFC is is a global umbrella organisation for the assessment of and mutual recognition of national forest certification schemes developed in a multi-stakeholder process (forest owners, final consumers and professionals).
Developed in 1999 by forest owners and by the European wood industry in order to facilitate the mutual recognition of existing national certification schemes, currently more than 127,000,000 hectares of forest have been certificated (Source: PEFC Italy) and a further 65,000,000 hectares have been certified under the recognition of other schemes.
The PEFC system, created to overcome the difficulty of defining criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, meets the demand for a flexible instrument that implements appropriate ecological management, which is economically valid and aimed at achieving social benefits.
PEFC aspires to the following 6 sustainable management criteria:
1) The correct maintenance and development of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle
2) The maintenance of the health and vitality of forest ecosystems
3) The maintenance and promotion of the forest as a manufacturing resource (wood and non-wood products)
4) The correct maintenance, conservation and development of the biological diversity in forest ecosystems
5) The maintenance and positive implementation of protective functions in forestry management (with specific attention to the soil and water)
6) The maintenance of other functions and socio-economic conditions
For further information on the certification - www.pefc.org
Download the Lecta Chain of Custody Policy
