In our last post, we recommended the new PEFC Guidance Document (PEFC GD 2001:2014) as "required reading" for anyone with a serious interest in Chain of Custody (CoC) certification for wood products. Along with many industry watchers,  we have been studying this closely since its release just 2 weeks ago.  Oddly enough, our most interesting observation so far is about what has been left out. Very Comprehensive and Almost Complete The guide is a very comprehensive document.  It is carefully...

When PEFC released the latest version of its Chain of Custody (CoC) standard in May of 2013, they also let it be know that they were working on an accompanying guidance document, which was planned for release in the fall.  The new CoC standard became mandatory in February of 2014, so most industry watchers (including MixedWood) set it to one side and waited for the guidance.  We waited but it did not come. By the beginning of 2014, it was clear that PEFC-certified companies would need to...

This post is intended to be the last in our short informational series about wood product chain of custody (CoC) certification.  The series is devoted to a simple idea:  chain of custody (CoC) should NOT be complicated.  This final installment  addresses the interaction between conventional "green" claims of sustainability for virgin, forest-based wood products and the "also-green" claims associated with recycled content (RC) materials. How does RC fit into CoC? In the early days of...

Earlier this year, I was very pleased to see a new report released by Dovetail Partners, Inc on the subject of Bamboo Products and Environmental Impacts.  Dovetail is a Minnesota-based, non-profit think-tank; and  one of the best sources of thoughtful, balanced, and articulate information on a broad range of subjects related to sustainability, land-use, and forest product certification.  Their bamboo report provides a very interesting look at the growing market for Bamboo as a substitute for...

In an earlier post, part of our CoC SHOULD BE EASY! series, we explored Due Diligence standards in a general way for all three of the CoC programs.  A key part of this process - one that deserves and is getting a lot of attention right now - is the Risk Assessment process for the FSC Controlled Wood (CW) program. The FSC CW Risk Assessment system is perhaps the most peculiar part of the whole CoC business.  It is a key component of FSC's version of Due Diligence.  It is also painfully...

Another installment in our continuing series on forest product Chain of Custody (CoC) certification - based on a simple idea:  CoC doesn't have to be complicated!  We have tried to illustrate this by breaking down the popular CoC standards (PEFC, SFI, & FSC) into their constituent parts.  Part 1 looked at the "guts" of CoC:  the nitty-gritty details of the invoices and packing lists that auditors are always asking for.  Part 2 outlines the ISO-based management system requirements that come...