ITC has achieved yet another milestone in its environmental journey. India’s largest integrated pulp and paper and paperboard manufacturing facility of ITC at Bhadrachalam has been awarded the FSC Chain of Custody Certificate. It is the most widely respected certification for responsible fibre sourcing around the world. This certification provides a unique competitive edge to ITC’s finepapers and paperboards in an increasingly environment-conscious world.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC is a certification system that provides internationally recognized standard-setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services to companies, organizations, and communities interested in responsible forestry.
Chain of Custody (CoC) certificates for paper/paperboard manufacturers are awarded after stringent audits that seek to establish the traceability of the fibre being used. The auditors verify that all material comes from known, legal sources which do not threaten the ecological balance and high conservation values of forests.
ITC is already a global leader in the area of sustainability. Along with being India’s first company to be invited to be a member of the WWF’s Global Forest and Trade Network (WWF GFTN), ITC also has a sustainable social and farm forestry programme that has now greened over 100,000 hectares of land. ITC’s unique large scale social forestry project has been the first of its kind in India to be registered with the UNFCCC under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The benefits of the project activity, which will earn 57792 CERs, will be passed on to the tribals post expenses incurred for the CDM project. ITC has also pioneered the innovative Wealth Out of Waste (WOW) programme in India, for collecting recyclable fibre directly from households. These achievements speak volumes for ITC’s aspiration to be an exemplar in sustainability practices.
This FSC certification comes close on the heels of the September 2009 certification of ITC PSPD’s recycled paperboards unit at Kovai, underlining ITC’s commitment to obtain credible environmental certifications for its wide range of products in paper and paperboard. ITC’s Paperboards and Paper Business will now be able to offer unique products to discerning customers that are certified to be manufactured with sustainably sourced virgin or post consumer recycled content, under the ”FSC Mixed’ and ‘FSC Recycled’ labels.
Going forward, ITC PSPD will continue to pursue excellence in environmental performance, and increasingly offer credibly certified products from all its units.
Source: ITC.
