Australia and Portugal have become the latest countries to successfully achieve the re-endorsement of their national forest certification systems by PEFC. This not only confirms that they continue to meet PEFC’s globally recognized Sustainability Benchmarks, but also ensures that certified forest owners and companies in these countries continue to benefit from the global acceptance of PEFC. This marks the second re-endorsement for Australia and Portugal, with both countries achieving endorsement for the first time back in 2004. The endorsement of the Australian system was particularly significant as, alongside Chile, it became the first non-European country to be recognized by PEFC. Since then, over 10 million hectares of forest have been certified in the country.

“Achieving PEFC certification further enforces our commitment to sustainable forestry and provides our customers with a complete range of fully certified timber products,” said Daryl Fahy, Managing Director of Earrai Coillte Chonnacht Teoranta (ECC), the first sawmill to achieve PEFC Chain of Custody certification in Ireland. “PEFC certification is a natural fit with our expanding business and obtaining PEFC certification proved to be a fairly seamless and straightforward process, achieved with little difficulty and few changes to our existing management and quality control systems,” added Conor Fahy, ECC Quality Manager. ECC was established in 1992 in a remote rural location in the west of Ireland in Connemara, Co. Galway and has grown to become one of the largest and most innovative sawmills in the country. click Read More below for more of the story

When paper was invented by the Chinese more than 2,000 years ago, merchants quickly became an integral part of its history, taking paper making around the world and helping to develop its many variations and uses. Today’s merchants remain a vital part of the paper chain, linking paper to people and delivering value to those they serve in more ways than ever before. In Values a Merchant Provides, the National Paper Trade Association (NPTA), a long-time member and enthusiastic supporter of Two Sides, spells out important ways merchants add value to the paper chain. These include not only critical operational values such as managing efficient supply chains, developing strong relationships with mills, sharing best practices and fostering creativity, but also efforts that speak to the very foundation of the industry, namely, proactively telling the great sustainability story of print, paper and paper-based packaging. Aligned with these efforts, the paper merchant community supports a variety of organizations that promote fiber-based sustainability options. These include Two Sides, which currently has 29 merchant companies as members.