A smoking colleague drew our attention to this innovation – Forest Stewardship council (FSC) certified liquorice rolling papers. Glad to see the tobacco industry getting on board with ethical packaging.

We have one question: is it just the packet that’s FSC certified, or the papers themselves? Is the liquorice Fair Trade? Actually, we’re not just being facetious. Our guidance from FSC UK changed recently, so that as FSC certified printers we’re now only allowed to apply the FSC ‘ticktree’ to a product that is made up wholly from FSC certified material. For instance, we printed the inner pages of a brochure for architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios on Regency Gloss, which is FSC Mixed Sources, but would not have been able to certify the book unless the cover was also on FSC material (in this case, Revive Pure 100 Uncoated, which is FSC 100% recycled).

Whether the papers in the Rizla packet constitute ‘pages’ of a ‘book’ is doubtless something the FSC police could debate for hours, so we won’t waste their time by referring the question on this occasion.

Many years ago, Calverts produced printed materials for Death Cigarettes, which came in a matt black packet with foil white skull and crossbones, and the most lurid health warnings. The guys behind the Death claimed it was an ethical brand, because they were telling the truth about their product. They were doing really well, until the change in the rules on unlimited import of fags for personal use; they had set up a scheme whereby Death, as appointed ‘agents’, would import cheap European tobacco for their ‘clients’ and thereby avoid UK duty. Unfortunately, Customs & Excise begged to disagree, they lost their appeal in the European Court – and Calverts didn’t get paid.

25th September is FSC Friday. Along with other Forest Stewardship Council people, we’re celebrating and promoting the nearest thing we have to a globally recognised and respected mark for sustainable forest products. For Calverts, that means paper containing virgin fibres.

In the design and printing world, the FSC  ‘ticktree’ is an occasionally misunderstood mark. What it does is to certify, via a chain of custody stretching from the forest through the pulp mills, papermakers, paper merchants to us, the printers, that that the paper in a piece of print comes from fibre from plantations that meet the high standards of the FSC scheme, from other controlled sources, or a mixture of such fibres with post-consumer recycled material – or, indeed 100% recycled material.

When you see the FSC claim on a printed item, it includes what kind of FSC material it’s made from, the ticktree mark and the printer’s certificate number. Any other use of the FSC mark or name is invalid  -  for instance, the ticktree on its own, or a piece of text saying something like  ’printed on FSC certified paper’, without a certificate number. This is how the chain can be checked; we as printers have to check in turn that our paper supplier has the correct certification, and that all the paper work relating to the purchase, storage and transportation of that paper has to check out (we are thoroughly audited on this every year) to make sure that it has not become mixed with non-FSC material. Calverts is certified by Oxford Timber Audits, who are accedited by FSC. Each year they check  the jobs for which we have made an FSC claim, to make sure we’re operating the scheme correctly. At our last audit, in June, OXTA said that Calverts is certifying more jobs as FSC than any other printer they audit - and not only that, we’re doing it almost 100% right (we had one minor corrective action this year, which was the way we use the FSC ticktree on our own letteheading!) Anyway, here are examples of the FSC claim which we put on work for our clients:

So, a big thank you to all the clients who worked with us over the last year to specify FSC certified papers and were willing to include the FSC claim in the artwork for their print. Here are a few of them:

Thomas Matthews (everything under the sun)
The British School of Osteopathy (Prospectus on Symbol Freelife Satin, designed by Calverts)
The School for Social Entrepreneurs (Sustainable Paths Report, on Revive 100 Offset)
Royal College of Art (Prospectus on Challenger Offset, designed by Happily Ever After)
Airside (2009 Calendar on Revive 100 Uncoated, design by Airside!)
Greenbelt Festivals (Festival programme on Revive 100 Uncoated, design by Wilf Whitty at RatioType)
CDS Co-operatives (Annual Report on Nine Lives Offset, designed by Calverts)
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (Places for Art and Places for Learning Brochures, on Regency Gloss, designed by Jannuzzi Smith)
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Liverpool (Group Show Catalogue on Satimat Green)

Calverts is committed to maintaining and if possible increasing the amount of 100% recycled and FSC certified  print we produce for our clients over the coming year, and it’s one of our objectives under towards our IS014001 environmental management accreditation. So if you want your work to be certified, just get in touch!

Click here for more info on the Forest Stewardship Council, their criteria for FSC certification and FSC Friday.