PEFC members discuss beyond the forest gate at AGM

PEFC council chairman Mike Clark told Packaging News that the question was raised as to whether it would be “too big an issue to use chain of custody accreditation to make sure that the printer, converter and paper mill all had in place the same criteria as the chain of custody standard”.

The PEFC logo currently symbolises products that come from fibre grown in forests certified under the organisation’s chain of custody standard.

“I think a lot of people are concerned that sometimes consumers’ understanding of the logo may be rather more than the logo is actually delivering,” he said. “The promise of forest certification stops at the forest gate.”

However, Clark pointed out that many companies have their own procurement policies that will cover criteria such as whether child labour is used in the manufacturing of a product.

“PEFC understands the problem, but it is not what we were set up to do,” he added.

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