PEFC Referenced as Credible Sustainable Forestry Standard in new UL Standard

7 January 2014 News

UL Environment, a business unit of Underwriters Laboratories (UL), has issued a new Standard for Sustainability for Sanitary Paper Products (UL 175) which specifies PEFC among forest certification standards that can be used as evidence that a product meets the ‘Sustainable Forest Source’ or ‘System for Evidence Sourcing’ criteria.

"With this new standard, UL Environment joins ranks with a growing list of leading organizations that reference PEFC, the world’s largest forest certification system, as providing evidence for sustainable sourcing," said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC International Secretary General. “We appreciate the acknowledgement of globally recognized bodies, most recently including the Consumer Goods Forum, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, as well as UL, for our work and the efforts of forest owners and managers in achieving compliance with PEFC certification requirements.”

UL is a premier global independent safety science company that has championed progress for 120 years. UL Environment works to advance global sustainability, environmental health, and safety by supporting the growth and development of environmentally preferable products, services, and organizations.

"We are continuously working on advancing our standards to support reduced environmental and human health impacts," explained Angela Griffiths, Director of Research and Service Delivery at UL Environment, in a press release announcing the new standard. "As the scientific body of knowledge around the effects of sourcing, manufacturing and using sanitary paper products has increased, and as manufacturing and the manufacturing lifecycle have become more sophisticated, we are updating our standards to reflect this new knowledge and ability in our certifications.”

Environmental sustainability and impact updates include requirements for the sustainable sourcing of fiber, which specifies PEFC certification as providing evidence for Sustainable Forest Source, defined as “[f]ibre source forest is managed and harvested in adherence with principles and practices of sustainability that are well defined [..] and which emanate from a process that has multiple balanced stakeholder interests (economic, environmental and social interests) shaping it”.

The UL Standard was designed to "improve and/or maintain environmental quality by reducing energy and materials consumption and by minimizing the impacts of pollution generated by the production, use and disposal of goods and services." It covers sanitary paper products, including toilet tissue, facial tissue, table napkins, kitchen towels and hand towels.