In a new advice note, FSC permits FSC certificate holders to include pre-consumer reclaimed paper when calculating FSC certified volumes. The advice note is effective immediately.
Pre-consumer reclaimed paper material now has more value in the context of FSC certification.
FSC has decided that certificate holders may now include such material as part of their input calculations for FSC Mix or FSC Recycled output claims.
Pre-consumer reclaimed paper has thus earned the same status as post-consumer reclaimed paper and FSC certified paper in terms of the material's contribution to output claims.
"This is good news for certificate holders using pre-consumer reclaimed paper. It essentially provides them with an option to expand their FSC production," explains NEPCon Chain of Custody expert Roman Polyachenko.
The decision is communicated through a new advice note that FSC has added to the FSC Chain of Custody Directive (ADVICE-40-004-13).
FSC CoC certificate holders may classify pre-consumer reclaimed paper materials as equivalent to FSC certified and post-consumer reclaimed materials for the purpose of determining the FSC Mix or FSC Recycled output claims.
This change is a result of a motion approved by FSC's members at the FSC General Assembly in 2011. The motion asked FSC to look into the pros and cons of accepting pre-consumer reclaimed paper as FSC certified content (motion 38). The change has been adopted by the FSC Board and is also included in the latest draft of the revised FSC Chain of Custody Standard (FSC-STD-40-004).