Fibre source

There are labels specific to virgin fibre and and labels specific to recycled content, with some overlaps - which does create confusion. Some of the manufacturing labels also include reference to the fibre source, so this classification is very approximate.

Virgin fibre

There are two commonly seen labels in the UK, FSC and PEFC, both of which are awarded for responsibly managed forests. Managing a forest sustainably involves more than just replanting trees - it is important to protect biodiversity, important ecosystems, soil and water quality, the rights of the local peoples and the rights and well-being of workers as well.

Illegal logging is also a major concern. Using only traceable sources of fibre, such as FSC and PEFC chain of custody certified materials reduces the opportunities to sell such timber and so helps tackle the problem.

The award criteria for the actual label stops at the forest - how the fibre is processed is not within the scope of the label. However, both schemes do provide for 'chain of custody' labels, the purpose of which is to provide assurance to users for timber-based products that the timber or product, including printed paper, they are buying does indeed come from a certified forest. The 'chain' is an audit trail from forest to end product, following ownership of the fibre.

(c) 1996 FSC A.C.

FSC is the Forest Stewardship Council. The links on the right will take you to their UK website for local information, including a product search page. To find more about FSC around the world, use the link to the international site.

PEFC/16-44-663

PEFC is the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes. Again, you can link to their website from the list on the right of the page.There are differences between these two schemes, and there are links on the right to further information on the subject.

There are also numerous other schemes globally, although their products are not yet commonly seen in the UK: the USA's SFI and Canada's CSA CAN/CSA-Z809 SFM Standard are perhaps the most likely to be seen in papers used here.

Recycled fibre

Both FSC and PEFC also label recycled fibre content of a paper, which does give rise to confusion amongst buyers. Their certification does not mean that the paper contains recycled FSC or PEFC fibre. It means that the source of the recycled fibre has been checked, and the same type of Chain of Custody process followed as for virgin fibre, so that purchasers can be sure that the fibre genuinely is recycled.

The main UK label purely looking at recycled fibre content, and with controls on use, is the NAPM (National Association of Paper Merchants) Recycled Mark. This was again developed to help assure purchasers that they were using genuine recycled paper - at the time there were concerns about mill broke (process waste within a paper mill that has traditionally always been re-used within the process) being labelled as recycled content. To be certified, a paper "must be manufactured from a minimum of 50%, 75% or 100% genuine paper and board waste fibre, no part of which should contain mill produced waste".

The NAPM defines genuine recovered fibre in the following terms:

1. Converters Waste: waste that has left the mill and is waste from a cutting or slitting operation
2. Printers waste: printed or unprinted - waste collected from a printing operation and may be either 'trimmings' (guillotine waste), 'overs', 'rejects' or any other similar waste received direct from a printer.
3. Domestic/Office waste: waste collected from either of these places - it may be printed or unprinted.
4. Newsstand Returns
5. Other - for example industrial waste, agricultural waste etc.

A label commonly seen, frequently used incorrectly and also frequently misunderstood, is the mobius loop. Used correctly, it has two versions:

On its own, as shown on the left. it simply means that the product, or part of it, can be recycled where facilities are available.

When shown with a percentage figure in the centre, as on the right, it means that the stated percentage of recycled material has been used in making the product.