Certifications and Product Safety

What is forest certification?

Forest certification is a well-established and important tool which enables conscious consumers to choose responsibly-sourced wood-based products. For Sappi North America, forest certification provides assurances to our consumers that the wood fiber used to manufacture our products originates from responsibly managed forests and has been legally harvested in accordance with sound environmental practices, and that social aspects such as indigenous rights have been taken into account.  Forest certification underpins our commitment to continuous improvement, our focus on being an environmentally responsible company operating according to the principles of sustainable forest management and our efforts to provide our customers with products that are responsibly sourced.

The leading global forestry certification systems recognize that sustainably-managed forests make vital contributions to society by providing economic, environmental and social benefits indispensable to our quality of life.  These certification systems ensure that responsible forest management practices are implemented in the forest and that wood fiber from certified forests can be identified throughout the supply chain. Certification systems establish specific wood fiber sourcing, production and marketing requirements for certified organizations; provide a framework for third-party annual auditing by accredited certification bodies; and govern the use of promotional and product claims and logos.

As is the case with many consumer products, multiple certification systems exist for forest products, including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) program, the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC), and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). A certificate from one of these systems indicates conformance to the certification standards, thereby assuring that woodfiber used in the products originates from well-managed forests.

CoC certification is a mechanism for tracking certified material from the forest to the final product. CoC certification helps to ensure and demonstrate responsible sourcing; and helps consumers to make responsible purchasing decisions. CoC claims are only valid if each link in the chain is certified. For a final product to qualify for CoC claims, all entities who take legal ownership of the material/product along the supply chain must be CoC-certified to ensure an unbroken chain from the certified forest to the final certified wood-based products. Independent third-party accredited certification bodies conduct CoC audits to verify that an entity’s wood flow accounting system conforms to applicable forest certification systems’ CoC standards. For more information, please refer to Sappi’s Forest Certification FAQ.

Sappi’s Commitment to Forest Certifications

At Sappi, we seek out only the most credible third-party certification standards and affiliations.

All of Sappi North America's mills are certified in accordance with the leading global sustainable forestry chain of custody (CoC) certification systems. Our Cloquet, Somerset, Westbrook and Matane Mills are FSC® (FSC-C014955) and PEFC (PEFC/29-31-10) CoC certified. Sappi North America's U.S.-based paper and packaging Cloquet and Somerset mills are also certified to the SFI® CoC standard and the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard for wood procurement operations. We are proud to be associated with these organizations and their efforts to drive sustainable business practices. We promote the increased use of certified woodfibre throughout our supply and value chains, and work with credible, internationally recognized, robust systems described above, which give equal assurance of the origin of woodfibre and responsible forest management practices. Our goal is to offer our customers a wide basket of products that are certified by at least one independent third-party credible system.  

In addition, all products manufactured and distributed (or sold) by Sappi North America are compliant with the Lacey Act. For more information, please refer to Sappi’s 'Our certifications' FAQ.

Sappi North America’s Fiber Sourcing Practices

Since Sappi does not own any forests in North America, we are fully dependent on outside suppliers for wood. Using third party programs helps to assure Sappi and our customers that our wood suppliers are adhering to responsible forestry practices. However, only about 11% of the world’s forests are certified and certification is expensive and at times not financially viable for small farmers and private forest landowners in our supply chains. Therefore, Sappi implements rigorous tracing practices to confirm and document the origin of wood fiber. In addition, suppliers must provide evidence that all wood fiber is sourced from controlled, non-controversial sources. Sappi does not use woodfibre from endangered tropical forests.

Globally, all wood and pulp sourced for Sappi meet the requirements of the FSC Controlled Wood standard at a minimum. There are five categories of unacceptable wood fiber that cannot be mixed with our materials:

• Illegally harvested wood;
• Wood harvested in violation of traditional and human rights;
• Wood harvested in forests in which high conservation values (HCVs) are threatened by management activities;
• Wood harvested in forests being converted to plantations or nonforest use; and
• Wood from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted.

For Sappi’s U.S.-based paper and packaging mills, all wood and pulp purchases must also meet the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard which has additional requirements beyond avoiding controversial sources. These requirements include landowner outreach; use of qualified resource and qualified logging professionals; investment in forest research; as well as adherence to best management practices.

To learn more, please visit Sappi North America's Sustainable Forestry page, Sappi Limited’s Woodfibre Procurement Policy, and Sappi’s Why Forests Matter FAQ.
 

Certification Programs