UPM Tilhill has announced the expansion of its Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain of custody approval to include controlled wood standards.
Controlled wood standards are designed to ensure that FSC chain of custody certified companies “avoid the use of unacceptable sources of wood in products carrying the FSC Mixed Sources label”.
UPM Tilhill said its move to include the standards removes the need for other companies in the supply chain to undertake sustainability audits. It added that it is the first forestry company in the UK to include the sale of controlled wood in its output.
“This new service will bring clear benefits to our customers who can ‘breathe easy’ in the knowledge that the timber they are purchasing has received a ‘green bill of health’,” said UPM Tilhill timber operations director Peter Whitfield.
“In addition, the burden of undertaking their own chain of custody auditing processes has been significantly eased.”
FSC-controlled wood standards prohibit the use of timber from a range of sources, including illegally felled trees, wood harvested in violation of traditional and civil rights, from forests in which high conservation values are threatened by management activities, forests being converted to plantations or non-forest use and from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted.
