Forests provide work and support rural communities as well as creating opportunities for leisure and recreation. Sustainably managed forests balance environmental, social and economic concerns to meet today’s needs, while guaranteeing forests for future generations. They also provide raw material for the cartonboard industry.
Renewable Raw Material: Wood Fibres From Sustainability Managed Forests
EU Forest Strategy for 2030 - Planting 3 billion trees
The EU Forest Strategy includes a roadmap to planting 3 billion trees by 2030, on top of an estimated 3 billion that are expected to grow on their own by the end of the decade. The EU Forest Strategy for 2030 is part of the Fit for 55 package presented by the European Commission in 2021. Under the umbrella of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (Cepi), the entire pulp and paper industry, including the companies owning and managing forests, supports the EU Forest Strategy. Our industry believes that consistent afforestation and reforestation efforts should be made in close cooperation among national authorities and companies across Europe.
Sustainable Forest Management
Sustainable forestry is “the stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their bio-diversity, productivity and their potential to fulfil, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems” (European Agreement, Helsinki, 1993).
Sustainable Forest Management is practised by European forest owners and operators who apply “sustainable development” principles when managing their forests. These cover environmental, economic and social aspects. European forests used by the paper and board industry are sustainable meaning that every year, more trees area planted than are harvested.
The European forest industry has accepted the principles of sustainable development and practices sustainable forest management. This involves
Active Forest Management
The practice of “active forest management” involves harvesting older trees in order to create healthy space to grow young trees. Young trees absorb more harmful CO2 than older trees do. When trees are harvested in this way, nothing is wasted. A tree can be a source of more than 5,000 products:
Cartonboard From Sustainability Managed Forests
Cartonboard and paper are made from cellulose fibres. In Europe around 50% of paper and board is based on cellulose fibre derived directly from trees (virgin fibre board). Whilst the rest is derived from recovered paper and board (recycled board), even that material is dependent on being mixed with fibre derived from wood. European paper and cartonboard mills are mainly supplied with local raw materials. The wood mainly comes from forests in Sweden, Finland, Germany, France and Austria. European forests used by the paper and board industry are sustainable, since annual growth of new wood exceeds the amount harvested by a large margin.
The paper and board industry uses forest thinnings and only part of the mature tree: the small diameter tops of large trees and sawmill waste. No tropical rain forests are destroyed to make paper and board.
Chain of Custody Certification
Chain of custody is the term used for tracking the origin of the raw material (primary wood fibre) at each stage of the production process all the way to the finished goods.
To prove that the wood used in finished products comes from a sustainably managed forest, manufacturers who produce goods from this raw material need a chain of custody certificate.
Chain of custody certification is awarded by an independent body. Only when the whole supply chain has been certified can the final products be sold with a label and a corresponding claim on accompanying documentation.
For forest products such as cartons, certifying the chain of custody means verifying that the wood used at each stage of the production process came from a forest certified as being sustainably managed. It is only valid if each step in the supply chain is checked.
For goods manufacturers and retailers the value of certification is in being able to label their cartonboard packaging as coming from a sustainably managed forest.
With a steady increase in forest certification, it is unlikely that any other industrial sector can match the forest products industries in demonstrating the same level of commitment to sustainability.
Forest Management Certification
Forest owners and operators wishing to demonstrate that their forestry management practice conforms with the appropriate standard can apply to independent, third party, auditing bodies for an assessment of their performance.
Key points about forest management certification:
Data collected by the European Paper Industry Association shows:
A number of assessment or “forest certification” schemes are in current use, with two leading schemes.
Whilst there is overlap in the types of forest certified by these two schemes, the FSC scheme is more generally applied to large forest areas typical of state and forest industry ownership, whilst the PEFC is generally used for the certification of smaller private and family-owned forests.
The PEFC Council is an independent, non-profit organisation founded in 1999 that promotes the sustainable management of forests through independent third-party certification. PEFC provides assurance to buyers of wood and paper products that they are promoting the sustainable management of forests. With more than 300 million hectares of certified forests (two-thirds of the world’s certified area), PEFC is the largest certification scheme.
Responsible Packaging – a new, forest centric way to look at sustainable packaging – from PEFC
The FSC is an independent, non-profit organisation established to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. It provides standardisation, brand assurance and accreditation services to companies and organisations interested in responsible forest management.
To prove wood is sourced from sustainably managed forests, the paper industry strongly relies on forest certification, in particular FSC and PEFC: 73% of wood and even 90% of market pulp comes from forest management certified sources. (Source: Cepi)
Trees grow by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. As trees grow they remove carbon from the atmosphere and help to reverse the “greenhouse effect”. This is known as “fixing” carbon.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide by a process known as photosynthesis. In sunlight, trees convert carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars and oxygen. The sugar is naturally polymerised into cellulose fibres.
One square metre of wood sequesters one tonne of carbon and releases 0.7 tonnes of oxygen, so forests play an important role in preventing global warming and cleaning the air. See Carbon Footprint of a Carton.
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