Elopak is FSC certified

Elopak has now certified its main European operations according to the strictest standards on forestry certification by the FSC, the Forestry Stewardship Council – a voluntary based body for forest conservation.

This is the first time Elopak has developed one common certification system for all operations and for all raw materials in its value chain. Since April 2010 Elopak is certified according to FSC and have an approved traceability system for the raw materials for board, from forest to filling.

All legal owners of board and blanks in Elopak’s value chain are implementing common procedures for traceability according to FSC. Det Norske Veritas has been auditing the certification system for Elopak. The first converting site to get the certificate was Elopak GmbH, Speyer followed by Elopak BV, Terneuzen and Elopak Denmark AS, Aarhus converting plants and their Market Units. By the end of 2010 all converting plants in Europe were certified in addition to eight Elopak Market Units.

Elopak has made a commitment to the EU that by 2015, 100% of our board supply shall be controlled and traceable and by 2018 all of our converting operations shall operate with full FSC certification. By the end of 2010, Elopak is well on the way with a 100% supply of controlled and traceable board in Europe (68% globally).

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FSC certification continues

Marianne Groven, ELOPAK’s FSC Manager reports on the progress of FSC Chain-of-Custody (CoC) Certification across the group. “Since the launch last year of our first FSC cartons the roll out across Europe is continuing with eight market units now fully certified. Our customers in Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Denmark are transferring their products to FSC board, and all the converting plants in Europe are now certified to produce FSC blanks.”

As the roll out continues Marianne makes clear that, “By the end of this year about half of ELOPAK’s European volume will be fully FSC certified board.  However the company has ensured that non-certified cartons are produced from FSC Controlled Wood sources. “Full supply of FSC certified cartons is a key goal throughout or entire group however until that is achieved we make certain that all blanks (in Europe) are produced with raw materials that originate from forests controlled by FSC standards.”

Marianne explains the five FSC principles for Controlled Wood. “The standards ensure

• no illegally harvested wood,
• no wood harvested in violation of traditional or civil rights,
• no wood harvested in forests where high conservation values are threatened,
• no wood harvested in forests being converted to plantations or non-forest use,
• no wood harvested from forests where genetically modified trees are planted are used in our cartons.”

“What the FSC Chain-of-Custody certification provides is control throughout the entire supply chain. It is an approved traceability system for raw materials from forest to finished product.  Only cartons from wholly FSC CoC certified production chains can be FSC-labelled,” says Marianne. 

By the end of 2011 ELOPAK will be close to a total of 3 billion FSC-labelled blanks in Europe and the roll out is planned to continue in North America.

This supports ELOPAK’s commitment to the EU that by 2015, 100% of board supply shall be controlled and traceable, and that by 2018 all converting operations shall operate with full FSC certification.

For more information contact Marianne.groven@ELOPAK.no.