Kasco, a leading paper supplier to the local graphic industry, has significantly reinforced its environmental credentials by becoming the first paper company in Malta to achieve a Chain of Custody Certification for its local operations under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme.
The FSC scheme focuses on the environmental, social and economic management of the world's forests to help ensure their sustainability. FSC is an international, non-profit organisation founded in 1993.
Environmentally-appropriate forest management ensures that the harvest of timber and non-timber products maintains the forest's biodiversity, productivity and ecological processes.
Socially beneficial forest management helps both local people and society at large to enjoy long-term benefits and also provides strong incentives to local people to sustain the forest resources and adhere to long-term management plans.
Economically-viable forest management means that forest operations are structured and managed to be sufficiently profitable, without generating financial profit at the expense of the forest resources, the ecosystem or affected communities. The tension between the need to generate adequate financial returns and the principles of responsible forest operations can be reduced through efforts to market forest products for their best value.
Kasco has been awarded a certificate of compliance to the FSC standard FSC- STD-40-004(2004) following rigorous revision and documentation of internal work methods which encompass the broad spectrum spanning from supplier verification to satisfying customer orders for FSC material.
Even though not as wide ranging in its scope as ISO9000, FSC-STD-40-004 is a chain of custody standard which enforces a management system to be in place and which will be maintained and improved.
Demand for FSC - certified paper is on the rise, as customers are becoming more conscious of the possible negative impact due to the indiscriminate use of the world's resources. An increasing number of companies and corporations have laid down internal policies for purchasing only FSC-certified paper.
FSC-certified paper is not different in any way from non-certified paper and is only recognisable by the use of the FSC registered trademark and other approved FSC logos. The on-product FSC label includes details showing whether the material is pure, recycled or mixed - the latter meaning that the paper mill has mixed FSC with other controlled but non-FSC pulp during production.
Purchasing paper with the FSC trademark and other logos on the packaging is not enough to show that that it is compliant with the FSC standard. The standard FSC-STD-40-004 requires that the chain of custody of the material is maintained throughout the supply chain from the forest to the end user. This means that each entity in the supply chain shall be certified to the FSC standard. Each entity shall go through the FSC certification process and has its own chain of custody certificate number. Independent third-party certification bodies are entrusted to certify the process and to verify compliance regularly.
Each entity can claim compliance to the FSC standard on material only if its immediate supplier has been itself FSC certified. The FSC certificate number can be used to verify compliance. To verify compliance and validity of any FSC certificate visit www.fsc.org and check out the FSC number.
While Kasco has always held the highest expectations as to the sustainable practices of its suppliers, the new certification provides proof from a third-party certification body that the paper sourced as FSC material, comes from sustainable and controlled sources.
Kasco's chain of custody certification number is TT-COC-002555 and has been awarded by the UK-based certification body BMTrada
Kasco's brands include Magno, HannoArt, Presto, Quatro, Mondi, Soporset, Vanguard, and Ivobel graphic papers, as well as IQ, IBM and Dalum Recycled for the small office home office market.
For more information visit www.Kasco.com.mt or call 2180 2554, fax 2166 3236.