Newsletter Stories


Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Public Consultation for Discussion Paper on FSC's Approach to Placing and Valuing Pre-Consumer Reclaimed Paper Fiber within certified Paper Products

December 11, 2013


FSC is seeking public consultation on the FSC Discussion Paper (FSC-DIS-40-008 D1-0) on the study investigating FSC’s approach to placing and valuing pre-consumer reclaimed paper fiber within FSC-certified products. FSC US would like to encourage all members and stakeholders to comment on this Discussion Paper, the deadline for comment has been extended until January 15th, 2014

Currently in the FSC system, pre-consumer reclaimed paper material is eligible as an input into an FSC Recycled or FSC Mix product; however, it does not count towards the certified content value. The Discussion Paper provides a thorough overview of the risks and benefits associated with changing the FSC approach to valuing pre-consumer paper material, and the paper also provides the following recommendation: 

1.   Pre-consumer fiber is fully valued for certification for both Recycled and Mix labels.
2.   No changes in the current FSC labeling rules:Globally, the Mobius loop in FSC labels will continue to indicate the percentage of total reclaimed material (sum of pre- and post- consumer reclaimed materials).
3.   Papers claiming recycled content and made in, or sold to, North America may indicate the percentage of post-consumer content next to the FSC label. 

If you wish to provide comments on the Discussion Paper and the current recommendation, you can do so in two ways, and please feel free to comment through both ways if you like as well. 

Option 1– Online survey, see the link here
Option 2– Complete the comment form

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Knosalla, l.knosalla at us.fsc point org.