Heidi Brock, President and CEO of AF&PA stated, "Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies continue to move in the wrong direction. In states like Oregon, EPR is poised to result in escalating fees, limited transparency, and added complexity while failing to recognize the existing, highly effective paper recycling system. "Our industry continuously invests to improve paper recycling. And we have a significant stake throughout the recycling value chain, including designing products to be recycled, expanding mill-based infrastructure that utilizes recycled paper, and operating over 100 materials recovery facilities (MRFs). "Rather than penalizing materials like paper and paper packaging that are already widely recycled, policymakers should prioritize approaches that build on existing success and deliver measurable improvements. Treating all materials the same, regardless of recycling performance, ignores decades of progress and distorts recycling markets.

In our interview series Meeting our Certified Companies, we hear from companies from around the world, large and small, which are proud to be a part of PEFC, and to help safeguard our forests through their commitment. In our latest interview, Natàlia Carmona, Director of Food Quality and Safety at Spanish cardboard packaging manufacturer Alzamora Group, shared her thoughts on sustainability and respect for the environment.

“We are entering a new age for timber, a new industrial revolution for timber,” said Peter Latham, Chairman of PEFC international, speaking today at the first Malaysian Timber Conference. MTC Peter 2018“This isn’t just a climate-positive story of using a renewable crop, a crop that can still lock in the carbon when at the end of its use; but also one in which certification can demonstrate how we look after our forests, how we cooperate with indigenous people, how we protect worker’s rights, and so much more.” Peter addressed the global supply and demand for forest certification and certified timber, its associated challenges and trends, and the outlook and opportunities for forest certification, during his speech on ‘Certification: opening or closing doors to global markets for tropical hardwood’. “In terms of global fibre consumption, tropical hardwood is a small part, but it is at the top of the pyramid, it is the prestige product,” Peter explained. Click read more below for additional detail.