UPM's Pietarsaari pulp mill and Rauma paper mill in Finland as well as the German Nordland Papier paper mill have now received FSC chain of custody certificates. The mills also have PEFC chain of custody. UPM's Caledonian Paper mill in Scotland has had both FSC and PEFC chain of custody certificates since autumn 2004.
"We want to offer our customers the chance to use the chain of custody certificate of their choice. Therefore we have applied for both certificates as part of our generic chain of custody model. Our aim is to increase the amount of certified wood at all of our mills and ensure credible control of the origin of wood through the whole chain from the forest to the customer," says Jaakko Sarantola, Vice President, Forestry and Wood Sourcing.
The majority of wood used at UPM's mills is purchased from private forest owners. The forest owner decides on the certification of his forests and which certification scheme is used. The dual certification of UPM's generic chain of custody makes it possible to report the amount of both FSC and PEFC certified fibre in the products to customers, where this fibre is available. For the time being the global availability of certified wood is limited, and varies from region to region.
UPM started building its generic chain of custody model in February 2005. In the future, the model will be rolled out and applied to all of UPM's wood sourcing and mill activities worldwide.
For further information please contact:
Sami Lundgren, Environmental Analyst, telephone: +358 204 150 394
UPM
Corporate Communications
October, 5, 2005
About UPM and certification systems:
UPM has 22 paper and pulp mills in eight countries and 30 wood products production units in five countries. 19 paper and pulp mills are using fresh fibre in their production. 4 of them have both FSC and PEFC chain of custody certificates and 11 PEFC certificates. Three paper mills are using only recycled fibre. 26 of the 30 wood production units have PEFC chain of custody certificates.
Chain of custody is a verified system for tracking the changes in custodianship of forest products, and products thereof, during the transportation, processing and distribution chain from the forest to the end-use.
PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) is, by area, the world's largest forest certification system. PEFC has endorsed 20 national forest certification systems, e.g. CSA, FFCS, UKWAS. SFI is currently under review for endorsement. PEFC is an umbrella organisation for the mutual recognition of national or regional forest certification schemes which meet internationally recognised requirements for sustainable forest management. PEFC includes forest certification, Chain of Custody and product labelling. Fulfilling the PEFC standard requires independent third-party verification. PEFC members are national or regional forest certification schemes based on inter-governmental processes for sustainable forest management around the world. In Europe these principles were agreed at a conference of European forest ministers. For more information: www.pefc.org.
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is an international non-governmental organisation founded in 1993, whose task is to support environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. Forests certified against FSC standards are located in more than 60 countries. The Council has defined ten general principles of forest management. The actual certification standards are drawn up in accordance with the FSC principles in a national co-operation process. Fulfilling the FSC standard requires independent third-party verification. For more information: www.fsc.org.
