be sure to check out the Going Green section at WhatTheyThink, lots of good info with case studies and white papers. Feel free to email Gail if you have questions as well, she can point you in the right direction http://sections.whattheythink.com/environment/ gail@whattheythink.com
I'm at the beginning stages of writing the material. What kind of system does your print shop do as far as labeling stock and keeping it separate from non FSC papers? Space is always an issue and haven't figured out yet what will work best.
We are devoting a very small space initially for the storage of
FSC stocks. We only have a few clients interested at this point,
and we are a 12 x 18 sheet fed store, so it's not too hard for us to
come up with the space for now. We're planning to order in for
each individual job, and to use all the paper ordered for each
job. That way we won't have to inventory and store remaining
sheets in the hopes that we'll use them down the road. While the
stock in question is in the shop we'll have specific tags for the
paper, and specific work orders for jobs that we're going to
claim certification on. We're still working on it on a corporate
and local level, but at this point this is the plan.
I went on an FSC / PEFC seminar the other week. We already have ISO 9001 and 14001 accreditation so there isn't such a lot for us to do. the problem is that there aren't many people trained and authorised to grant the Chain of Custody at the moment and those that are, demand what we feel is a large sum for our efforts. We don't need to implement very much at all as many of the processes are in place and all they have to do is check we have the right procedure in place. For that we would have to pay around £3000 to a governing body for doing next to nothing. So far we have not had any demand from clients to prove the chain of custody or to print the FSC logo, only to print the jobs on FSC material. If anyone does ask for proof of origin we show them the chain of Custody from the mill or paper merchant. To date that has always been enough, I think there has got o be an element of trust within a business relationship and as long as he can categorically state that the material is either FSC or PEFC certified that should be enough.
This is what I've suspected, and good info. We've been doing the
same type of thing (including printing on stock that bears the FSC
watermark) up until now. However there are clients that receive
directives from their head offices that the FSC logo be printed on
their collateral. The only way a shop can do this is to pay for the
rights to reproduce it. That you already have many of these procedures
in place already doesn't matter in the same way that paper mills who
have been practicing sustainable forestry for years and years can't
make any claim without paying for it either. This is very clever
marketing by FSC and SCS, in my opinion, but not very altruistic
(which I feel their marketing suggests that they are). An example
of this will be when we get audited, then certified, we'll be responsible
for periodic internal audits since there aren't any auditors in our
region (so we're told). This seems rather silly to me as a SOP
for maintaining control of COC by a governing body, and set up
to be taken advantage of. But whatever. We'll pay them the money
and get certified and do what we need to stay certified as long as
there is a demand from our clients. I dislike the way it's set up to work.
Maybe I have the wrong impression here, as I've only been looking into
certification for a few months...
I do think it's a great way to drum up demand for softwood that is
difficult to sell in the US because of tariffs though.
Anyone ever follow the money on this? I'd love to know where it's all really going $$. My suspicion is that it is a self sustaining annuity for global environmental activists.
Ask your paper recycler where they sell most of their material? 75% to Asia is our recycler's best estimate. I kind of doubt they are very worried about their footprint like we seem to be in the US.
Actually, come to think of it...with the state of the paper/print industry, alternative e-media, 15 states currently with pending Do Not Mail bills in their legislatures, I'm more worried about my footprint in the unemployment line than I am about how much carbon is on it.
We have a "green committee" of which I am the chair. I have been passionate about this topic for a while but on a corporate level it's a different ball-game. We became FSC certified. We of course, recycle tons of unused paper - as well as office paper. That was new this year - I had my department recycling but now it is integrated into the departments. We also recycle plastics from chemistry packaging and the like.
We use (as most do) soy inks and reduced VOC chemistry (I actually need to get more intimate with the pressroom on this topic though - I'm in prepress mostly).
The latest thing we are doing is a "waste audit" where the city comes in and guides us through looking through our garbage. Should be interesting (I get to dig through it too ... yay!)
Re: FSC certification - going green
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