The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sets high, yet attainable standards that help ensure ethical and sustainable forestry practices and wood products.
FSC certification may be applied to products made with wood or other forest products such as paper, furniture or building supplies along with paper merchants and manufacturers, printers, pulp supplies and of course, companies who work with wood at the most basic level such as sawmills and logging companies.
Most FSC certified products bear one of three FSC 'On-product Labels,' which helps guarantee consumers that the product they're choosing is made with wood from a certified well-managed forest. The three on-product labels include the following:
- FSC 100% - Products bearing this label can only contain material from FSC certified forests.
- FSC Mixed sources - Products bearing this label are made with material from FSC certified forests along with recycled material or other sustainable and ethically controlled material sources.
- FSC Recycled - Products bearing this label contain post consumer material but may also and may contain some pre-consumer material content.
In order to gain FSC certification, there are 10 FSC-set principles, along with 57 FSC-set criteria that a product must meet. In general these principles and criteria address legal issues, indigenous rights, correct product documentation, planned forest management, labor rights, forest management environmental impacts, chain of custody monitoring, conservation and benefits that ensure economic viability and a range of environmental and social advantages.
Unlike other logging and sawmill certifications, FSC certification allows lumber and other forest products to qualify for LEED points via the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
When does organic certification and FSC certification merge?
Organic certification and FSC certification are not one and the same. For example, an FSC certified wood and fabric chair is not necessarily organic. These are two separate certification standards.
Organic certification and FSC certification may merge though depending on the product. For example, toys or furniture made with organic textiles and sustainable wood may qualify for both organic and FSC certification and bear both the FSC label and USDA Organic Seal.
Another time that FSC certification may come into play for organic companies is when paper or other printed materials are involved. For example, a certified organic tea company may use FSC certified packaging and FSC certified paper for their informational brochures and for in-office uses.
For an organic company who does deal in either wood or paper, FSC certification products can be a great way to show consumers that the company is not simply organic but sustainable and ethical as well.
EKLA HOME makes furniture that is both Oeko-tex certified and FSC certified.
