By April Smith, Catalog Choice managing director.
Like me, you’ve probably noticed a forest certification logo, recycling symbol, or sustainability statement on the back of more and more catalogs. As a growing number of catalog mailers examine the environmental implications of their catalog production and make greener choices, eco-labels on catalog covers become more commonplace. Here’s a sampling of labels and statements I’ve noticed recently:
The Fair Indigo catalog states “We take sustainability seriously. This catalog was printed in the USA with 30% post-consumer waste and paper certified for sustainability.” The catalog even lists the amount of natural resources saved as a result, although no specific forest certification program is mentioned. The back cover of the FLOR catalog sports the PEFC certification label and says “Printed on 100% recycled paper, 85% post-consumer waste.” The Vermont Country Store also prints on paper certified by SFI. The “FSC Mixed Sources” logo appears on a number of catalogs, including Heifer International, Title Nine, Sundance, and all the Williams-Sonoma brands. And countless catalogs sport the recycling logo with post-consumer recycled content ranging from unspecified amounts up to 85 percent.
Eco-labels for paper choices are powerful communication tools, conveying environmental information quickly and conveniently to the consumer and showing a commitment to environmental stewardship on the part of the catalog mailer. But what do all the logos really mean? If you are confused by these symbols and certification schemes, here’s a summary to help demystify the most common catalog eco-labels.
Let’s start with recycled content. We’ve all seen the ubiquitous arrow Mobius strip symbol. Some mailers print the recycling logo on the back of the catalog with the generic claim “printed on recycled paper.” This doesn’t tell you much except that the paper contains some recovered material. Recycled fiber can be “pre-consumer” or “post consumer” waste. Pre-consumer just means industrial trimmings and scraps that haven’t reached the consumer market. What you want to look for are post-consumer percentages, which indicate recovered waste that has completed its life as a consumer item and was destined for the landfill. The higher the post-consumer waste percentage, the better. But remember, a catalog mailer needs to balance paper quality, availability, and cost with environmental considerations. That’s why you’ll see a variety of recycling percentages and claims on catalogs.
There are a variety of forest certification programs which verify that practices meet recognized standards for responsible forest management. Certification helps balance the economic benefits of forest use and the ecological value of forest conservation. Three common certification logos you’ll see on the back of catalogs are those of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Programme for the Environment of Forest Certification (PEFC).
FSC certification is widely considered the most rigorous certification scheme. Strengths include the protection of ecologically important forests and the banning of the conversion of natural forests into plantations. Plantations, while necessary to meet global fiber needs, cannot replace older, diverse, natural forests nor can they sequester as much carbon dioxide as mature trees, which is important for climate stabilization. FSC maintains three label types based on the product’s content: FSC Pure, FSC Recycled, and FSC Mixed Sources. Of the three, the FSC Mixed Sources label makes the most frequent appearance on catalogs. FSC Mixed is a blend of FSC Pure, Recycled and/or Controlled Fiber. FSC Pure is 100% virgin fiber from an FSC certified forest. FSC Recycled certifies paper that contains a minimum of 85% post-consumer fiber. Controlled fiber refers to the remaining wood fiber (not Pure or Recycled) and is screened to exclude the worst forestry practices, such as illegal logging, the liquidation of high value forests, civil rights violations, and genetic modification of forest species. Papers that contain both post-consumer waste and are FSC-certified reduce virgin fiber use but also ensure that when needed, it comes from sustainably managed sources.
Largely in response to FSC, the country’s largest forest-industry trade association (AF&PA) formed SFI which has operated as a fully independent forest certification program since 2007. Critics claim that SFI lacks rigor with regard to some forest management issues. Unlike FSC standards, SFI certification allows the use of genetically modified trees and the conversion of natural forests to plantations, including forests deemed to have critical environmental or socio-economic value.
Launched in Europe, PEFC is technically not a certification scheme but an umbrella organization for national forest certification programs. PEFC provides assurance to wood and paper product purchasers that they are buying sustainably produced goods, irrespective of where they came from. PEFC prohibits the use of wood from some controversial sources, but allows the use of genetically modified trees and the conversion of forests to plantations. PEFC has endorsed the CSA (Canadian) and SFI certification schemes, so weaknesses inherent in these systems also apply to PEFC.
We hope this helps you understand the various labels you see on the back of a catalog.
