The firm mooted its intention to move to FSC certified stock and recycled papers as part of its paper procurement policy last July.

The paper procurement policy forms part of the publisher's overall corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy.

Group publishing operations director Stephen Esson said certification would allow the publisher to identify the increasing number of black and white book titles that it will publish using chain of custody stock with the FSC logo.

 "This clearly demonstrates Random House's commitment to using paper from well-managed forests," said FSC working group director Nick Cliffe.

Random House purchases 17,000 tonnes of paper for black and white book production per year.