“We are seeing huge developments in the print sector of certified paper. The number of certified suppliers is growing at a phenomenal rate,” says William Walker, UK national secretary for the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
PEFC Chain of Custody accreditations in the UK have shot up in the past year, from around 250 a year ago to around 400 now; a quarter of these are held by firms in the print and publishing sector. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the other high-profile organisation which gives out chain of custody accreditations, has now awarded certificates to around 80 firms in the print sector.
Dual accreditation
But not content with just one or other certificate, a growing number of print companies are now making it their priority to gain both. The latest to join this list, in the past month, include print management company Charterhouse and printers ProCo, Benson Group and Potts.
Although the difference between the two is minimal, many printers believe dual accreditation is the way forward. Walker says: “FSC and PEFC are different in their origins but both have been recognised as delivering environmentally friendly forest products.”
Statexcolourprint in Newcastle announced last month that it had achieved both accreditations. Sue Maitland, finance and human resources director, says: “Not all printers choose to get both. We decided to go for both because they are slightly different in that not all environmental papers are FSC accredited. It depends on who’s managing the forest. If you have PEFC, then you can’t claim FSC. It just makes sure that we are covered on all angles,” says Maitland.
She adds that the accreditations fit in with the firm’s wider environmental agenda, and says that it could push clients to specify FSC- or PEFC-compliant work. “If we can encourage our clients to use paper from well managed sources, well that’s great,” she says.
Others argue that publishers and end users are pushing printers towards gaining both certificates.Kerry Ward, sales executive at Patersons in Kent, which has both accreditations, says: “Our industry is becoming more and more environmentally friendly and a growing number of our clients are asking for environmental papers. But [these accreditations] allow us to show the clients that we have got this capability.”
Jon Bailey, marketing director at Sheffield-based B2 and digital firm ProCo, says: “Companies are expecting suppliers to be leading the way. Most printers know that there is going to be legislation at some point, so it’s about having those requirements already in place.”
Eco awareness
Bryan Shirley, managing director of Rotherham printer Bluetree, which has FSC accreditation, agrees that the public is becoming much more environmentally aware. “I think it’s been driven by awareness and a desire to make sure that we are not harming the planet. It will become more of a requirement for printers to have these accreditations.”
Paper suppliers also agree. Bob Ide, marketing director at merchant group PaperCo, says: “Environmental matters are top of everyone’s agenda. Specifiers, namely government and large corporate end users, are leading the take-up of environmentally accredited papers. But there is also increasing awareness and enthusiasm from smaller organisations and, of course, the general public.”
Recognised labels
He adds that there is increased recognition of the FSC and PEFC marques, and that the proportion of FSC- and PEFC-certified products in the group’s warehouses is growing steadily as more and more products achieve accreditation. “Sustainability is fundamental to our product procurement strategy and we anticipate greater awareness of both PEFC and FSC in the future,” he adds.
But some have argued that the range of environmental accreditations is becoming too big, with the risk of customers becoming confused over what each one means. With ISO 14001 competing for logo space at the bottom of marketing literature, as well as BPIF plans to launch its own eco-label scheme to the mix, the choice for print buyers is only going to get harder.
But the PEFC’s Walker says that, far from the labels being a marketing ploy, buyers are asking for the choice. He says: “Supplies of certified materials are becoming available from the mills across the world. Just as important is the demand in the market place – people want to see certified claims.”
And that, it seems, is the key driver for certification: customer choice.
ENVIRONMENTAL ACCREDITATIONS EXPLAINED
FSC and PEFC both run global forest certification systems that include two aspects: forest management and chain of custody certification which ensures that timber produced in certified forests can be traced from the forest to the end user.
FSC was founded in 1993, and has national working groups in 28 countries. It has 776
FSC chain of custody holders in the UK, of which around 80 are in the print and publishing sector.
PEFC was founded in 1999. It runs more than 33 independent national forest certification schemes. It had 385 UK chain of custody holders in April 2007; around a quarter of those are in print and publishing.
Industry swings towards sustainability
As a manufacturing industry, print has often been derided for its impact on the environment. But the recent spate of printers gaining certificates proving that their paper is sourced from sustainable and eco-friendly sources suggests that the industry is, in fact, working hard to put itself at the forefront of plans for a greener Britain.
