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A box’s journey begins in a sustainably managed forest…
Boxes are made from sustainable and renewable resources - trees and recovered and recycled boxes. The journey of a corrugated box begins in a sustainably managed forest. But what exactly does that mean?
Forest certification is a reliable way of informing consumers about the sustainability of the forests from which forest products are produced. Forest certification is a voluntary process. The quality of forest management and production is assessed using standards, developed through multi-stakeholder processes, by an onsite accredited auditing firm for an independent third-party certification organization. (See Pinchot Institute for Conservation, Certification: Definition and Background.)
Currently, the best-known forest certification systems in the U.S. are the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). ATFS is a network of 74,000 family forest owners sustainably managing 19 million acres of forestland, and is part of the PEFC alliance. It is a signature program of the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and is the oldest sustainable woodland system in the United States.
SFI is the most widely used certification in the United States. Forestlands from Canada’s boreal forest to the U.S. South are certified to the SFI Forest Management Standard. SFI is currently working to revise their standards to incorporate the latest scientific information and respond to emerging issues. As of the release of this article, SFI is holding 10 workshops across Canada and the U.S and 1 webinar in May and June 2020, to discuss key topics and issues related to SFI Standards. Draft standards will be publicly available throughout the process. For more information or to attend a workshop, see the SFI standards website.
“Forests cover 766 million acres of the U.S. and are our nation’s largest terrestrial carbon sink, continuously taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in trees and in forest products.” Today, family-owned forests collectively own more acres of woodlands across the U.S. than any other group, including the federal government and corporations. According to AFF, “family woodlands alone store roughly 14 billion tons of carbon.”
By ensuring that the wood fiber we procure is sustainably grown, harvested and replanted, we invest in the future of forests. And successively … the boxes are recycled into fiber for more boxes. More great examples of why we are the most environmentally friendly packaging material available in the world today.
Thanks, Mary Alice
Mary Alice Drain is the Director of Technical Services at Fibre Box Association (FBA). If you have technical questions about the corrugated industry, you can reach her direct at mdrain@fibrebox.org.
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