UK's Largest Timber Trader to Demand FSC Label
10/8/98
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: UK's Largest Timber Trader to Demand FSC Label
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 10/8/98
LONDON, UK, October 8, 1998 (ENS) - Meyer International, the UK's largest
timber trader, has announced that it will only purchase timber that
has been certified under the international Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC) scheme for sustainably managed forestry.
The decision was hailed Wednesday by the environmental group which
originated the scheme, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), as "one of
the most significant things to happen in the timber trade for decades."
The WWF started the Forest Stewardship Council in 1993.
The UK is the second largest net importer of timber in the world, and
Meyer is "central" to this industry, WWF UK forestry campaigner Steve
Howard said.
He predicted that the announcement would have knock-on effects worldwide -
Meyer is said to source timber from 40 countries. The company's commitment
to the scheme represents a significant challenge for the FSC as well as an
opportunity, Howard said. "It's a sign of the FSC coming of age."
Meyer, which owns the Jewsons and Harcross chains, has pledged to ensure
that 80 percent of its timber is FSC certified within five years.
According to Amanda Burton of Meyer, the firm has "always kept a close eye
on the development of certification and now, as the FSC is entering the
mainstream we can see that it presents an exciting commercial
opportunity."
Forest certification is the process of inspecting particular forests or
woodland to see if they are being managed according to an agreed set of
standards.
The FSC's scheme for certification is distinct from, yet related to the
ISO environmental management standard. FSC certification is based on
specified performance standards, that must be met by the forest operation
before a certificate is issued.
The environmental management system standard from the International
Standards Organisation (ISO 14000-series) is a process standard. It
specifies how a company's management system must be organised to address
environmental aspects and impacts of its operations. ISO certification
does not result in a product label.
FSC and ISO are fully compatible and can be complementary, according to a
statement by the Forest Stewardship Council. ISO standards can provide the
framework and control mechanisms for the management system, within which
the FSC standards serve as the target performance level.
{ENDS Environment Daily contributed to this report. Europe's choice for
environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London.
http://www.ends.co.uk; Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk}
c Environment News Service (ENS) 1998