Special Guidance for Paper Industry

About half of the world's commercial timber supply is used to make paper products such as tissue paper, packaging, copy paper, books, newspaper and magazines.

Consumers are increasingly concerned that the paper products they buy may contribute to forest destruction. Retailers and manufacturers are starting to respond to this concern by ensuring their woodchips are sourced from legal or sustainable forest operations, increasing the recycled content of their products, and ensuring clean production.

Tools for Paper Buyers and Producers

WWF Paper Toolbox
WWF is developing a Paper Toolbox to help paper producers and buyers to produce and purchase paper products more responsibly. The toolbox includes the WWF Paper Scorecard, a tool to help paper producers score the environmental qualities of their products, and the WWF Guide to Buying Paper (to be published in October 2007).

Metafore Environmental Paper Assessment Tool (EPAT)
The EPAT aims to facilitate the communication between producers and buyers of paper and paper products. Specifically, EPAT helps companies seeking to buy environmentally preferable paper make progress toward their objectives.

Standards and Certification

Certification guarantees that the wood fiber in a paper product is sourced from well managed forests or recycled materials. Usually, for a paper product to achieve certification, it must be able to be traced from a certified forest or certified paper manufacturer, merchant and finally printer who have Chain of Custody certification.