Want to Support Sustainable Forestry? Here’s the Label to Look For

Trying to shop sustainably can be a nightmare.  Where a product came from, how it was made, what it’s packaged in, where it was shipped and how one can dispose of it all make a big impact on the environment, and it’s a mess sorting all that out for every purchase.  There are also hundreds of sustainability certifications out there.  Some of them mean something and some of them don’t, and it’s usually the customer who has to figure it out.

Fortunately, if your goal is to save Malaysia’s tropical forests (and forests around the world), the solution is simple – look for the Forest Stewardship Council label.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the world’s most responsible major certifier of sustainably sourced wood and paper products.  It’s a worldwide organization setting standards for responsible forest management.  FSC is the gold standard in sustainable forest management, and is the only organization of its kind supported by environmental big-timers like GreenPeace, WWF and Sierra Club.

Where do you find FSC products?  Some IKEA products, paper from Fuji Xerox and Canon, and stationary from Staedtler, Faber-Castell all use FSC certified material.  You can also search for certified suppliers at the FSC website.

Though many big suppliers don’t use FSC wood, it is a comfort to know that the world’s leading supplier of cardboard packaging, Tetra Pak, does.

“From day one, when our founder designed the first Tetra Pak carton, he had the environment in mind, believing that a package should save more than its cost, and this could only be achieved by starting with what it’s made of,” said the company’s environmental director for Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia, Terrenyz Tan.

So if you want to support sustainable forestry – if you want to help fight for the future of forests in Malaysia and around the world – do what you can to buy FSC certified products.