FSC and You!
	What is FSC? The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international association of members consisting of a diverse group of representatives from environmental and social groups, the timber trade and the forestry profession, indigenous people’s organizations, responsible corporations, community forestry groups and forest product certification organizations from around the world. What is FSC certification? The Forest Stewardship Council’s mission is to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. FSC’s main tool for achieving this mission is a forest certification and product-labeling system. The certification system is a formal process conducted by accredited, independent “third-party” organizations. This system assesses forest management (forest certification) and the tracking of forest products (chain-of-custody certification) to ensure established principles, criteria and standards have been met. The intent is to shift the market to certified forests in order to eliminate habitat destruction, water pollution, displacement of indigenous peoples and violence against people and wildlife that often accompanies logging. We are pleased to announce Stephenson Printing has been certified and granted an FSC Certificate. This certification allows us to use and print the FSC logo as an “environmental claim” on the paper used for your print job as long as the paper has flowed through the FSC “chain-of-custody” from an FSC-certified forest, to a certified paper manufacturer, to a certified merchant and finally to Stephenson Printing. What do FSC labels look like? There are three categories of FSC labels and five possible variations of the on-product claim. Each type of label has specific design, graphic and wording elements that differentiate one from another and which will determine the standards behind the promise of the label. When you ask that your job be FSC Certified, we’ll take it from there assuring the correct label is used on your product. Please note the following examples do not constitute the complete package of labels. The labels you see below may be placed on your printed product in either portrait (square) or landscape format and may be scaled proportionally to adapt to different product sizes. FSC labels may also be reproduced using one of three color options – negative full-color (dark background), positive full-color (light background) or positive one-color (black and white).
	FSC 100% label Products with a 100% FSC label come from forests certified as being in compliance with the environmental and social standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
	FSC Mixed Sources label Products with a Mixed Sources label support the development of responsible forest management worldwide. The wood comes from FSC certified well managed forests, company controlled sources and/or recycled material. Company Controlled sources are controlled, in accordance with FSC standards, to exclude illegally harvested timber, forests where high conservation values are threatened, genetically modified organisms, violation of people’s civil and traditional rights and wood from forests harvested for the purpose of converting the land to plantations or other non-forest use. The recycling symbol identifies post-consumer recycled content in these products.
	FSC Recycled label Products with a 100% Recycled label support re-use of forest resources and in accordance with FACT standards only use post-consumer recycled wood or fiber.
	How will my company benefit? Carrying the FSC-certification logo on your print products tells the world you support the highest social and environmental standards in the market where you use paper. Dealing responsibly with your company’s footprint cannot only reduce risk, but can enhance your brand showing social responsibility and support for the utmost care of our environment.
	The above information was obtained from the FSC’s official web-site www.fscus.org. For more information on how your next job can carry an FSC logo, contact Sandy Stephenson at 800-336-4637 or 703-642-9000, x 2505.