DS Smith has confirmed its membership of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International. Since the acquisition and integration of Interstate Resources and more recent acquisition of Europac, DS Smith now owns over 14,000 hectares of forest assets across North America, Portugal and Spain.
FSC is a trusted sustainable forest certification system. More than 200 million hectares of forest worldwide are FSC-certified and DS Smith joins the certification system as part of its forestry stewardship policy and overarching sustainable approach to management.
Sam Jones, Sustainability Strategy Manager at DS Smith commented, “Chain of custody certification schemes have value where they credibly substantiate a sustainable product story to a consumer, usually through data and supply chain traceability and transparency. There is still work to be done and certification schemes like the FSC need to continually evolve to make use of the best methodology and technologies for collecting, analysing and sharing supply chain data. DS Smith will work with FSC to improve the sharing of e-supply chain data securely without compromising commercially sensitive information.”
Jeremy Harrison, Chief Marketing Officer at FSC International commented, “We recognise that we cannot solve complex environmental issues on our own. Collaboration with stakeholders is crucial in continuing to develop the effectiveness of certification. Collaboration drives the innovation required to improve our system and continue to create value for the end consumer, communities and the environment.”
