CERTIFICATIONS
FSC®
MERIDIONAL CARTE SRL has for some time implemented a policy of improving its quality standards and attention to the environment and the reduction of environmental impacts. This is why we have decided to provide a wide selection of items, developed from recycled raw materials, with low environmental impact or from forests managed according to the principles of responsibility established by the regulations of the Forest Stewardship Council®.
01 What is FSC®
FSC is a certification system that allows the final consumer to recognize products manufactured from raw materials that come from properly managed forests, from an environmental, social and economic point of view. An FSC forest is a forest where cutting is controlled and does not affect the overall health of the forest.
Therefore, buying from an FSC certified company means buying a wood product or derived from it that does not contribute to the destruction of forests. This does not mean that an FSC product is more expensive, but simply that the purchase rewards a company that uses for its business a product of nature that it respects and tries to protect.
A wide range of forests around the world is FSC certified: from pine plantations in Scandinavia, to alpine fir and lric forests in Italy, to oak and beech forests in eastern countries, to tropical forests in Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, etc.
68,486 hectares of FSC certified forest in our country, divided into 19 active certificates: a slight increase compared to 2019 (+3.21%).
Record numbers for the forest product supply chain in our country, which does not seem to know crisis and which registers a +10% for the second consecutive year: companies with active certificates of Chain of Custody (CoC) are now 2,831, out of a total of over 3,500 production sites involved.
Internationally, the FSC certified forest area in over 80 countries gains 21 million hectares, rising from 200,738,995 to 221,201,420 (+10%). Among the areas growing the most in EU and CIS are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Russia; on the African continent relevant the growths of the Republic of the Congo and Namibia, and of China and Turkey for Asia. Forest management certificates, on the other hand, increased from 1,668 for 2019 to 1,739 (+4.2%, +9.6% the figure for the Old Continent).
Increase also in the number of companies that have decided to certify or confirm their CoC certification (+10.9%), from 40,331 in 127 countries to 44,751 in 130 countries; as far as Europe is concerned, this number has increased from 19,850 to 21,601 (+8.8%): a sign of the expansion of the FSC certified products market, even in times of uncertainty and strong instability , and increasing demand from businesses and end consumers. In this context, Italy remains a leader at European level (in number) and second in the world.
Thousands of FSC branded product lines are available on the market, including indoor and outdoor furniture and furnishings, kitchen utensils, kitchen and printing paper, paper handkerchiefs, upholstery and flooring, frames and many others, including some non-woody forest products (rubber, nuts, etc.).
02 The chain of custody (COC)
The Chain of Custody (in English Chain of Custody, in acronym COC) is the certification of the traceability of the certified wood raw material within the transformation process, and to maintain unequivocal the origin from certified forests. FSC® Chain of Custody Policy MERIDIONAL CARTE SRL with the aim of marketing products following an eco-compatible way, has decided to guarantee its customers the marketing of FSC certified paper and to implement an FSC Chain of Custody management system. To this end, the company's commitment is focused on: checking the certification of the raw materials purchased and the related suppliers; train the personnel directly involved in the Chain of Custody System and in particular the personnel involved in the management of procurement; suspend the application of the sale as FSC if the product does not comply with the requirements of the standard applicable to the company as defined in the FSC Manual; use the FSC logo only in association with products that have the minimum characteristics required by the FSC standard. MERIDIONAL CARTE SRL also declares, under its responsibility, that it is not involved in activities: logging or illegal trade in forest products; involving the violation of traditions and peoples' rights in relation to forestry activities that cause the destruction of environments of high conservation value in relation to forestry activities; conversion of significant natural forest areas into plantations; introduction of genetically modified organisms into the environment; which result in the violation of the rules established by the ILO (International Labor Organization) of the 1998 “Declaration on fundamental rights and principles at work”.