FSC certified packaging: what FSC certification means

FSC stands for the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC packaging is board whose fibre is traceable to responsibly managed forests and other controlled sources through a certified chain of custody, covering standards for biodiversity, water, workers and local communities, and tracked all the way through the supply chain to the finished pack.

Barton Jones Packaging holds FSC chain of custody certification under licence code C214479. That code is not decoration. FSC requires it to appear alongside any use of the FSC trademarks, which is why you will see it on our certification badges and literature.

The three FSC labels

Chain of custody is the important part

Forest management certification covers the forest. Chain of custody covers everyone who handles the material afterwards, including converters, printers and distributors like us. Every link in that chain has to be certified, or the claim breaks.

That means we buy certified board from certified mills, we keep records that reconcile certified material in against certified product out, and we are audited annually by an accredited certification body. If we could not evidence the paperwork, we could not make the claim.

What FSC does and does not cover

• FSC covers responsible forest management and traceability of wood and paper fibre.
• FSC does not measure carbon footprint. That is a separate question, which is why we also hold Verified Carbon Standard credentials.
• FSC is not the same as EUDR compliance. EUDR is law with its own due diligence requirements, and FSC evidence supports it without replacing it.
• FSC certification belongs to a company, not to a one off order. Claims have to be made on certified product from a certified supplier.

Can you put the FSC logo on your packaging?

Sometimes. If you want to apply the FSC label to your own printed packaging you normally need your own trademark licence, and the packaging has to be produced as certified product with the claim stated on our invoice and delivery paperwork.

If you simply want to tell customers your packaging comes from a certified supply chain, you can reference the certification without using the trademarks. Tell us at quotation stage which route you need, because it affects how the order is specified and documented.

Asking us for evidence

Buyers, auditors and retail customers increasingly want the certificate rather than a statement. Our FSC certificate is available on request through our accreditations page, along with our BRCGS storage and distribution certification and Verified Carbon Standard documentation.

If you need FSC certified board specified on a particular pack, or need the claim to appear on your paperwork for your own reporting, speak to our sales team and we will set the order up correctly from the start.

Looking for certified board made to measure near you? See our FSC certified packaging for locally manufactured, FSC-licenced corrugated boxes supplied from our Letchworth site.