We have requested and obtained the “Chain of Custody” certifications thanks to which the raw materials we use follow a traceability path that guarantees the final consumer a product coming from responsibly managed forests.
Responsible Forest Management ensures that a forest is managed in compliance with strict environmental, social and economic standards. It ensures that forestry activities bring social, environmental and economic benefits, balance competing needs, and maintain and improve forest functions today and in the future.
“The environment, after all, is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is one thing that all of us share.”
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) is an international non-governmental and non-profit organization created in 1993 and which includes, among its members, environmental and social groups, indigenous communities, forest owners, industries that work and trade in wood, large distribution groups, scientists and technicians, who work together to promote correct forest and plantation management throughout the world.
The (FSC®) is not only an environmental organization but also an organization that deals with the social and economic aspects related to forest management.
Good forest management is based on three major families of values: environmental, social and economic; a management that protects the natural environment, has to be useful for the people (workers and local populations) and economically viable, in line with the principles of sustainable development established at the Rio de Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002) Summits.
FSC® has defined, with the involvement of all interested parties, a voluntary and third-party (independent) certification system, operating internationally and specific for the forestry sector and wood products. 10 Principles & Criteria (P&C) of good forest management have been defined, rules for the traceability of forest products and for the use of an international registered trademark, aimed at identifying forest products: all products marked with the FSC® mark are certified as coming from forests that comply with internationally recognized principles and criteria of good forest management.
The Chain of Custody certification
In the case of the Chain of Custody, the certification body assesses the traceability of the woody product during the different stages of processing and marketing. The term Chain of Custody is the definition with which the FSC® identifies “the channel through which a product is marketed, from the origin of the raw materials, through all intermediate transformation processes, up to its sale and final use” (FSC®, 2002).
The certification of forest management has the task of ensuring that forests are managed according to the Principles and Criteria of sustainability envisaged and approved by a specific reference standard, Chain of Custody certification ensures that the wood in the final product actually comes from a forest certified as sustainably managed. The final outcome of such a process is a labelling procedure by applying the FSC® logo.
PEFC
The PEFCC Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes Council is an international non-profit organization and constitutes the international governing body, based in Luxembourg, of the certification system called Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes, PEFC.
PEFC was created in 1998 with the aim of promoting sustainable forest management, consistent with the provisions of the 6 Criteria for good forest management resulting from the Helsinki Process and with the Pan-european Guidelines, at an operational level, for sustainable forest management.
Three families of values, environmental, social and economic, are recognised as important for good forest management.
Relying on a broad understanding of the parties interested in the implementation of sustainable forest management, PEFC has created a third-party (independent) certification system for both proper forest management and the traceability of forest products (Chain of Custody ).
Certification according to PEFC standards
PEFC has developed a voluntary and third-party certification system specific to the forest-wood sector, which includes two complementary strands:
The Chain of Custody certification
Chain of Custody certification is a process complementary to the certification of sustainable forest management and is a necessary condition for the marking of products with the logo of the PEFC an operation precluded to holders of sustainable forest management certification only.
Only companies with a valid Chain of Custody certificate, in fact, can label and sell the products as certified PEFC . The labelling process responds both to the need for physical traceability of the product, and, above all, to the need for marketing and visibility in the eyes of the public of the company that practices it.
It is a very important communication vehicle which gives the consumer evidence of the provenance of wood from well-managed forests, allowing, through the use of unique certification codes for each company, the quick and simple identification of the producer and, in fact, the reconstruction of the entire supply chain: from the finished product, up to the forest of origin of the wood.
FITOK certification
In order to be suitable for trade between countries, wooden packaging must comply with FAO’s ISPM-15 rules on phytosanitary measures. This means that they must be treated in such a way as not to spread harmful organisms, that is, insects that feed on timber, in order to avoid possible infections with serious economic and environmental impacts on the world’s forest heritage.
Each State has transposed the rules imposed by the FAO: in Italy, the FITOK Regulation has been adopted.
To ensure adequate phytosanitary protection, it is required that the wood packaging materials are heat treated in special ovens, through a process called HT Heat Treatment, in order to reach 56 °C at the heart of the wood for at least 30 minutes.
Since 2013 Silingardi has been licensed to produce packaging in accordance with ISPM/15 and to mark them with the FITOK logo.
