b'BACK TO NAVIGATIONCERTIFICATIONBeware of Greenwashing!Certification systems allow consumers to influence forest management and other impacts of paper use by purchasingMany products are now being labelled as green pre-certified products. Customers may however assume thateven though they still have negative environmental all certification standards are equivalent and that all certifiedimpacts and this can be an issue for paper. forest products come from sustainably managed forests butAlmost all paper is recyclable, so paper labelled unfortunately there are some differences that consumers shouldrecyclable is not greener than standard paper. be aware of. The most sustainable paper should be 100 percent There are two common certifications available for forest productsrecycled, have a high post-consumer waste content in Australia that are applied to copy paper: and not contain any native forest fibre. Ideally this Forest Stewardship Council certification (FSC) andpaper would also be produced locally to avoid the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) - sometimes alsoimpacts of transport. represented as PEAC Some paper companies also label their paper Both certifications are underpinned by a process of standards,carbon neutral as the carbon emissions in the consultation, reporting, and auditing.production process have been measured and Both these certifications receive support and criticism byoffset but if the paper contains native forest fibre, different stakeholder groups and both are subject to commentarysimply leaving the native forest in the ground to about how they balance the interests of commercial harvestingabsorb carbon would provide greater benefits.verses environmental sustainability and communities. Many point to contradictions where high value conservation forests areAustralia also exports unprocessed wood chips harvested for certified timber products or where other impactsharvested from native Victorian and Tasmanian or failures of compliance systems have led to unsustainableeucalypt forests to Japan and China where it is outcomes.made into paper products. Given that much of The highest use of paper by law firms is 80 gsm copy paper. TheAustralias copy paper is imported, customers number of large paper mills in Australian has reduced over theneed to be aware that they may be inadvertently last ten years as a result of international competition for products.supporting this practice.Australian Paper is now the only producer of copy paper in Australia but produces paper for several labels and brands. Their plant at Maryvale produces different copy paper products using both recycled and virgin pulp - using fifty-seven percent planation pulp in total. Australian Paper has also recently commissioned a recycling plant capable of significantly increasing the proportion of recycled copy paper it produces. Australian Paper is also the only Australian manufacturer of A4 copy paper that still uses native forest timber harvested by Vic Forests. This supply of native forest logs is certified by the industry backed Australian Forestry Standard but does not meet the additional requirements of Forestry Stewardship Council certification.49'