Seville, Spain (8 September 2014) – “We are proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last 20 years. We have come a long way, but we can achieve even more. And the World’s forests need that.”

This statement was made by Kim Carstensen, Director General of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) ahead of the organization’s official celebration of its 20th anniversary, at its triennial General Assembly in Seville, Spain.

FSC was founded in 1994 after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro failed to address the challenge of deforestation. Since the Rio Summit, the world has lost seven percent of its forest cover. While some countries in temperate regions have seen deforestation rates stabilize, or even reverse, loss of forest cover remains a significant challenge, especially in tropical regions where FSC’s influence remains limited.

“There are many tools needed to prevent deforestation in tropical forest countries. One of these tools is certification,” Carstensen explained. “We currently have 20 million hectares certified in tropical timber countries, and about 10% of the total FSC certified forest is in the tropics. This is not nearly enough. But we do know that those 20 million hectares are being managed in such a way that is environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable. We need to work to increase that 20 million hectares substantially.”

The reasons for this deforestation had little to do with the forests themselves. Tropical deforestation was mainly caused by conversion of forest for palm oil cultivation, beef grazing, soya production, and all manner of other agricultural activities. Weaker governance and often conflict in many tropical forest countries was also responsible for deforestation. Plantation establishment played a role in some settings, but FSC was seeing promising developments towards more sustainable approaches, particularly where certification played a role.

After 20 years in existence, FSC is the world’s strongest certification, in terms of global reach, robustness of certification criteria and number of businesses involved in the system. Over 180 million hectares are FSC certified. The organisation works with 150,000 small holders around the world, and is increasingly working with indigenous groups who live in and around certified forests. Recently, FSC formed the Permanent Indigenous Peoples’ Committee to ensure that indigenous people have a say in the way forests are managed.

The General Assembly is FSC’s top decision-making body, where the members propose, debate and vote on policy that guides the organization. As a member-led democracy, FSC is unique among forest certification systems.

About The Forest Stewardship Council

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent non-governmental organization that promotes environmentally sound, socially beneficial, and economically prosperous management of the world’s forests. FSC was created in 1993 to help consumers and businesses identify products from well-managed forests. FSC sets standards by which forests are certified, offering credible verification to people who are buying wood and wood products. Currently more than 175 million hectares and 25,000 companies are certified to FSC standards world-wide. For more information visit ic.fsc.org/.

The post Forest Stewardship Council celebrates 20th Anniversary first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

While we cannot dispute the convenience and immediacy of having annual reports on our company websites and our latest bank statement emailed to us, we have to ensure that electronic information is not ‘green-washed’. In the case of your bank statement being sent straight to your inbox, it is simply about reducing cost (to the service provider) and improving convenience to you as the user. It is certainly not about ‘going green’.

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change published by Sir Nicholas Stern, head of the Government Economic Service in the United Kingdom, in 2006 explains it simply. His 700-page document tackled the effects of climate change and global warming on the world economy and he used the same document to demonstrate how paper and print have a better environmental footprint than electronic communications.

• Printing the Stern Review emits 85g of CO2 (one copy can be read over and over again without further emissions).
• Reading the Stern Review on a computer for one hour emits 226g of CO2 every time.
• Burning the Stern Review to CD is estimated to emit 300g of CO2 for every copy
• Burning the Stern Review to DVD is estimated to emit 350g of CO2 for every copy.

Consider the environment before you send that email

Stern notes that sending 50kb via e-mail causes the same emission as posting a 10g item, with all its fossil fuel consumption in mail delivery etc.  The big difference is that reading an item on a computer emits greenhouse gases at the rate of 3.8g of CO2 per minute. Reading a piece of paper results in no additional emissions.

Putting things in perspective

In an article Sappi’s eQ Journal (Issue 0004), Hans Wegner, Chief Sustainability Officer, National Geographic Society says, “I get frustrated with people who say ‘magazines are the problem,’ when an annual subscription to National Geographic is equal to using a gallon of gas [equivalent to 3.5 litres of petrol] in your car.”

Wegner does take some comfort in knowing that the carbon footprint of the [National Geographic] magazine is something he can quantify, unlike the impact of the online version. Wegner isn’t so sure that electronic is the better medium for the environment, despite the majority of the general public believing as such.

“We don’t know the environmental impact of saving a document on a server for ten years or more,” Wegner says. “And we have no idea of the impact of extracting finite resources to make electronic devices that cannot easily be recycled safely and practically.”

Trees are an important part of the paper story

Compare the manufacture of electronic devices to support communication, which rely on energy from non-renewable fossil fuels and components made from non-renewable precious metals, with the natural and scientific wonder of the tree: It is 100% renewable and it sequesters carbon during its growth cycle through photosynthesis.

Furthermore sustainably managed plantations mitigate climate change, provide a reliable and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber supply into the value chain and ensure that our land, water resources, fauna and flora remain protected. In fact, South Africa has the highest level of international certification of its plantations in the world. Over 80% of South African plantations are certified by the FSC.

The use of renewable biomass-based energy has also enabled the South African paper manufacturing industry to avoid the use of 1,3 million tons of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas annually and therefore the associated carbon emissions.

Once the paper reaches the consumer, it is vital that it is recycled thereby extending the period of carbon lock-up in paper and keeping carbon out of the atmosphere for longer.

Think before you do not print

So when you get that email that asks you not to print it so you can save a tree, point them to the www.paperstory.co.za website where they can download and print the latest PAMSA fact sheet, and a new strap for the bottom of their emails.

PAMSA does not advocate wasteful printing – we advocate responsible printing and paper use, re-use and recycle.

Follow us on Twitter @PaperRocks_SA.

The post Pulling the plug on the digital vs paper debate first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

A little more than two weeks later, after an uproar from the American and global paper and printing industries, Toshiba pulled the plug on the campaign.

Ignorant statements such as ‘We know that approximately 336 million sheets of paper are wasted daily’, ‘more than 40,000 trees are discarded every day in America’ and ‘we as individuals and companies are failing to make the link between printing waste and its negative impacts on our landfills, natural resources and the environment’ was just the stuff that organisations such as Printing Industries of America and Two Sides have to challenge on a regular basis.

“Toshiba seems to have ignored the environmental impact of electronic communications. Just saying you are eliminating print and paper really does not mean you are necessarily helping the planet,” wrote Two Sides member Vince Collins in a June 13 response to NNPD. “It’s a lot more complex than that. If the alternative is, for example, electronic communication, then what is the environmental impact of this?”

The National Association for Printing Leadership also had its say: “The real waste problem is the rapidly escalating number of discarded computers and other electronic components, which are not biodegradable and will sit in landfills for generations, taking up increasing amounts of space and ultimately leaching lead, mercury, and other toxic metals, hazardous chemicals, and plastic residue into the soil.”

Greenpeace has identified electronic waste as the fastest growing component of the municipal waste steam[i].

In an article published by Graphic Repro On-line, Two Sides challenges the campaign as ‘greenwashing’, with the following:

• “Toshiba has linked paper use to deforestation (or killing trees and destroying forests) when, in fact, responsibly made paper can be a sustainable way to communicate. Paper is a highly recycled commodity in Europe, with a recycling rate approaching 70%. [ii] Does Toshiba recycle its products so effectively? We think not.”
• “Paper is based on wood, a natural and renewable material. Electronic equipment, ink and toner cartridges, including those with the Toshiba brand, are made mostly from non-renewable resources and are not so easily recycled. Has Toshiba considered the life cycle of all of its own products before professing expertise on others?”
• “What do the thousands of men and women employed by Toshiba to manufacture, sell and distribute copiers, printers and toner cartridges worldwide think about this campaign?”

Much more has been written about the failed campaign.  Simply pour yourself a big mug of your favourite beverage and Google ‘Toshiba No Print Day’. Much of it is constructive; some simply laughable.

As the industry, we need to stand together against the promulgation of ‘anti-paper’ ignorance.  Arm yourself with the facts and enlighten colleagues, family and friends (download our paper fact sheet) and ask them to remove footers from their emails such as ‘Consider the environment before you print this’ (download some alternative footers).

While PAMSA certainly does not advocate wasteful printing, we ask that paper and printing be treated with respect:

• Buy locally manufactured paper that is FSC-certified. This way you can be assured that the paper is produced from sustainably managed plantations.
• Reuse your paper – print draft documents on the reverse side.
• Recycle your paper, keeping it dry and away from other waste.

Lastly, be responsible with your electronic waste. Do your research and find reputable electronic waste recycling companies that you know will handle your old computers and printers with the environment in mind.

The post Toshiba’s National No-Print Day causes paper jam first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

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World Environment Day is one of the days in the year where we receive a flood of ‘green’ messages about saving precious resources such as water and energy, buying less and recycling more and living in a sustainable way so we can ensure the health of our planet. While a number of these messages are well meaning, there are certain messages that perpetuate long-held misconceptions about the paper industry: that paper kills trees and that our paper consumption threatens rainforests.

The Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) would like to set the record straight for the South African context with the following facts:

Paper is made from farmed trees.

• All paper in South Africa is produced from plantation-grown trees, recycled paper or bagasse (sugar cane fibre).  Plantation-grown trees are farmed for paper, just as maize is planted for cereals and wheat for bread.
• Our fibre is not sourced from the wood of rainforests, indigenous or boreal trees. This is a myth, often wrongfully perpetuated by e-mail footnotes.
• In South Africa, 600 million trees across 762,000 hectares are specifically grown for use in pulp and paper manufacture and the industry plants in excess of 260,000 trees every single day.
• The industry has made significant advances in terms of environmental sustainability over recent decades. The use of renewable biomass-based energy has enabled the industry to avoid the use of 1,3 million tons of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas annually and therefore the associated carbon emissions.

Timber plantations help fight climate change.

• Plantations are atmospheric carbon sinks which mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and releasing oxygen through the natural process of photosynthesis.
• South Africa’s timber plantations, which cater for pulp and paper, furniture and other wood based-products, lock up 900 million tons of CO2— a key environmental service and a means of mitigating climate change. (Forestry South Africa, 2011)
• Only 9% of the total plantation area is harvested annually. This is replanted within the same year.  Only mature trees are harvested.
• Carbon absorption continues as the new trees grow and young trees are able to absorb carbon more rapidly than the older trees. These trees, and thus paper products, are a renewable resource.
• Interestingly, if it were not for the pulp and paper industry operating world-wide for the last 150 years the CO2 levels in the atmosphere would be 5% higher (about half a degree in Celsius) than they are at present. This is according to the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Special Report on the greenhouse gas and carbon profile of the global forest products industry published in February 2007.

• South Africa has the highest level of international certification of its plantations in the world. Over 80% of South African plantations are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
• PAMSA members – Kimberly-Clark, Nampak, Mondi, Mpact and Sappi – subscribe to the FSC’s Chain of Custody which tracks FSC-certified material through the production process – from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.
• Consumers should look out for paper and wood products bearing the FSC mark of certification.

Recycling is rewarding.

• An important reason for paper recycling is that it extends the period over which the carbon in the paper is locked out of the atmosphere.
• Paper recovery and recycling reduces costs to local municipal authorities and frees up space at landfill sites.
• Recycling creates jobs for many in the informal and formal sector.
• With 65% of recovered paper used as raw material in paper mills, more than half of the country’s paper mills depend on recycled fibre and a number of them use it as their only fibre source.

The post Getting the facts straight about paper first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

Breathe in, breathe out

• All paper in South Africa is produced from sustainably managed plantation-grown trees, recycled paper or bagasse (sugar cane fibre).
• Plantation-grown trees are farmed for paper, just as maize is planted for cereals and wheat for bread. In South Africa, 600 million trees across 762,000 hectares are specifically grown for use in pulp and paper manufacture and the industry plants in excess of 260,000 trees every single day.
• The fibre is not sourced from the wood of rainforests, indigenous or boreal trees. This is a myth, often wrongfully perpetuated by e-mail footnotes.
• Plantations are atmospheric carbon sinks which mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and releasing oxygen through the natural process of photosynthesis.
• Only 9% of the total plantation area is harvested annually. This is replanted within the same year. Only mature trees are harvested.
• Carbon absorption continues as the new trees grow and young trees are able to absorb carbon more rapidly than the older trees. These trees, and thus paper products, are a renewable resource.

Respecting our water resources

• South Africa’s plantations require neither irrigation nor regular fertilising.
• The total annual water usage by timber plantations was calculated to be 428 million m³ per year, approximately 3% of the total annual water usage in South Africa. By comparison, water used for irrigating crops amounts to 7,9 billion m3 or 62% of the total annual requirement. (National Water Resource Strategy: Dept. Water Affairs and Forestry 2004)
• The industry has also voluntarily reduced its plantation area by 80,000 hectares in riverine and other ecologically sensitive areas.
• Further downstream, pulp and paper manufacturers have implemented water recycling technologies to reduce the industry’s water footprint.

Managing our resources sustainably

• South Africa has the highest level of international certification of its plantations in the world. Over 80% of South African plantations are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
• PAMSA members subscribe to the FSC’s Chain of Custody which tracks FSC-certified material through the production process – from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution. Consumers should look out for paper and wood products bearing the FSC mark of certification.
• The industry has 1,6 million hectares of FSC-certified land of which only about one million hectares are planted to trees. The majority of the other 600,000 hectares are grasslands. These have been assessed by South African National Biodiversity Institute to be the best conserved grasslands in the country. It is therefore important when referring to impacts of monocultures on biodiversity, that they are considered at landscape level and not at stand level.

ENDS

The post Sustainable plantation management makes all the difference. first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

In 2006, an initiative passed which required electric utilities to use renewable resources from facilities in operation after 1999. The initiative language also excluded certain renewable resources,such as spent pulping liquors. If we are going to move toward energy independence in the future, we must use common sense in counting renewable energy produced from organic material in facilities that are capable of producing it. This legislation helps preserve the economic viability of the pulp & paper industry in Southwestern Washington.

Mark Doumit said: “We need to do everything we can to use our renewable natural resources efficiently, and not pick winners and losers along the way. If we want healthy working forests we must ensure that our rural resource lands remain economically profitable.”Doumit is the Executive Director of the Washington Forest Protection Association, representing nearly 4 million acres of private forest landowners.

“We commend Governor Chris Gregoire, Senator Hatfield, and the Washington State legislature for recognizing the value that biomass has as part of the renewable energy portfolio,” said American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman.”Our industry is a leader in the use of renewable biomass fuel as part of our manufacturing processes which helps reduce greenhouse gases. We are pleased that our facilities will now be recognized as a contributor to renewable energy use in Washington.”

About the Washington Forest Protection Association. Founded in 1908, WFPA members are large and small private forest landowners that grow and harvest trees on nearly 4 million acres in Washington State. Forestry provides nearly 120,000 family wage jobs in the state. www.wfpa.org

About the American Forest & Paper Association. AF&PA is a Washington D.C.-based national trade association that represents the public policy interests of the nearly 900,000 U.S. forest products industry workers. www.afandpa.org

SOURCE: Washington Forest Protection Association

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