According to the ninth annual Proforest* report on the Chain of Custody (CoC) commitment made in 2007 by Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) members – Tetra Pak, Elopak and SIG Combibloc – 100% of wood fibre purchased globally in 2015 was either FSC certified or FSC controlled wood.
This means ACE members have met their commitment to source 100% wood fibre that is traceable to fully third party verified legal and acceptable sources by the end of 2015 – and that all ACE members' food and drink carton production sites, and the board mills supplying these sites, are now Chain of Custody certified.
“When we set the target in 2007 we knew it was an ambitious one, so it is great news that the 100% target has been achieved and independently verified”, comments Richard Hands, Chief Executive of ACE UK.
“Realising the target set in the original 2007 commitment, which had the support of the WWF European Policy Office, has helped achieve EU and international forest policy objectives to promote sustainable forestry practices, such as the EU’s action plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).”
Responsibly sourced raw materials have a key role to play in supporting a low carbon circular economy. In Sweden and Finland, where most of the wood fibre for European food and drink cartons originates, forests are expanding with growth in forest volume increasing year-on-year as annual growth exceeds cuttings.
“ACE members have a clear interest in ensuring that forests are responsibly managed as, on average, 75% of a food and beverage carton is made from this natural renewable material.
“Traceability is one of our industry’s key strategies in ensuring the responsible sourcing of primary raw materials, which is, in turn, critical to achieving sustainable economic growth. Achieving this target really is an important milestone for the food and drink carton industry”, concluded Hands.
The ninth annual Proforest report on ACE’s Chain of Custody (CoC) commitment can be found here:
http://www.ace-uk.co.uk/images/uploads/ace_9th_annual_report_2015_final.pdf
* Proforest is an independent verifier of natural resource management.
About the commitment
The commitment of ACE members is two-fold and global. First, the three beverage carton manufacturers, Tetra Pak, Elopak, SIG Combibloc undertake by 2015 to reach 100% wood fibre that is traceable to legal and acceptable sources, using processes that have been independently verified. The scope includes all wood fibres used in mills producing paperboard for the three companies. Second they commit to secure by 2018 chain of custody certification for all their carton manufacturing plants. Within the European Union, 100% of the wood used for the production of beverage cartons already comes from paper mills that have an FSC-certified Chain of Custody in place.
About ACE UK
The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) UK provides a platform for the industry to profile and benchmark cartons as a renewable, recyclable and low-carbon packaging choice, and to drive its environmental initiatives. This includes running the industry’s carton recycling programme.
ACE UK represents Tetra Pak, Elopak, SIG Combibloc, the leading manufacturers of beverage cartons for the UK market. It is also supported by BillerudKorsnäs and Stora Enso, which produce about 98% of the paperboard used by ACE UK members to manufacture beverage cartons in Europe.