Members across the forest products supply chain met in Charlotte, NC on June 12 for GreenBlue’s first-ever Forest Certification Innovation Summit. The workshop brought together representatives from across the forest products industry including forest owners, loggers, paper manufacturers, printers, brokers, retailers, publishers, professors and more to discuss the value of forest certification and strategies to help drive this value.
Having members from across the entire supply chain in one room provided a unique opportunity to hear diverse perspectives and ideas as participants discussed the challenges of growing forest certification. For example: recognizing the need to better understand value drivers for small landowners in the United States; understanding which customers in the value chain are best positioned to drive adoption; and how to leverage constructive dialogue across the supply chain to grow forest certification.
A day of lively discussion produced interesting takeaways. One of the most valuable takeaways came from small landowners who expressed the need to include or reinforce value drivers outside of those typically associated with forest certification. For example, innovative ways to demonstrate and verify responsible forest management that are more aligned with how their land is being managed, as well as mitigating sourcing risk and concerns about illegal sourcing. At the other end of the supply chain, brand owners communicated the value of forest certification in helping to establish trust with consumers. In this regard, there could be strategies for brands to help make the connection between forest certification and consumer values. By introducing strategies that better align with the most important drivers of forest certification for each link in the value chain, we can begin to achieve the shared goal of responsible forest management.
Since the summit, staff and committee members have been working to utilize the day’s output to develop strategies to deliver the value that supply chain members have indicated would best drive growth. GreenBlue will publish these results and ongoing efforts in an online resource outlining the project process and results up to this point, as well as the strategies to develop and deliver better value moving forward.
We will also continue to conduct outreach with stakeholders across the forest certification supply chain including a workshop at SPC Advance, Thursday, September 11. SPC Advance will give us our first opportunity to share the Summit results with a larger audience, and will help identify participants for the next step in the process – engaging the most important customers. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to me via email at tom.pollock@greenblue.org.
Category: Uncategorized
When the Specialty Food Association contacted the Sustainable Packaging Coalition looking for Summer Fancy Food Show (SFFS) speakers, I was pretty excited to grab the gig. Fancy food and a whole new group of faces to educate? I’m in.
On June 30, 2014, I attended and spoke at SFFS in New York City. The show was a mix of over 15 sessions and seminars, a show floor of 2,400 exhibitors, and over 24,000 attendees. It was also SPC’s first time working with the Specialty Food Association and the Fancy Food Show. I love fancy food as much as the next person, but it was more than just a tasty opportunity. SFFS was a chance to educate a new crowd and observe an industry with great sustainability potential.
SFFS14 Education Program
The day began with me teaching a one hour session, Sustainable Packaging: What’s New? How Does it Affect Your Business? SPC member Steve Mahler of Caraustar leant a hand during the session and Q&A, offering his unique industry and SPC member perspective. The group was diverse and inquisitive, sticking around to ask more questions. I spent the rest of the day walking the show floor, tasting samples, and talking to vendors.
Everyone has a story
From packaging to product, everyone had a story to share.
The creator of Energyfruits saw parents eating their children’s food products and decided to develop an “adult version.” Admittedly, it felt a little bit like my Capri Sun days, but I could get used to this. It was a convenient counterbalance to all of the sweet treats. Unfortunately, end of life recovery options for flexible pouches remain slim. This was just one of many pouch packages, highlighting the hurdle, and opportunity, in flexible packaging.
The Mason Jar Cookie Company uses their packaging as a defining brand identity. Cookie mix comes in a clear container, with layered ingredients creating an attractive display. As a consumer, it had a familiar “southern feel,” and I can never have too many mason jars. This company connected with me on a personal level, a great asset to creating brand loyalty.
A similar packaging-driving-brand-loyalty example is Salem Baking Company’s cookie tubes. I grew up eating Salem’s Moravian Sugar Cookies in the iconic tubes. It was uplifting to see so many flavors and products. It was icing on the cake for them to ask what I thought about the sustainability of their packaging.
The 2014 Summer Fancy Food Show was a great event, and I look forward to working more with this new group of faces.
Our Forest Certification Innovation Summit, held in Charlotte, NC on June 12, brought together over 60 representatives from across the forest products supply chain and lit the path forward for GreenBlue’s Forest Products Working Group’s ongoing effort to define the value of forest certification. As an immediate follow-up, we talked with some of the event’s sponsors to hear their perspectives on the event. While informal, the interviews are intended to provide insights from different supply chain positions on the major takeaways from the event, as well as explain how this kind of event can help advance the forest products industry.
For the first interview in our series, we sat down with Lisa Stocker, Sustainable Business Manager for Domtar. The Summit was conducted under the Chatham House Rule, so names and organizations will not be attributed to any of the specifics recalled from the event.
GreenBlue: Can you tell us a little about Domtar and how you fit into the forest products industry? Where do you fall in the value chain?
Lisa Stocker: We are the largest integrated marketer and manufacturer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America. We have 13 pulp and paper mills, nine in the United States and four in Canada, with an annual paper production capacity of approximately 3.4 million tons of uncoated paper. Our paper manufacturing operations are supported by 15 converting and distribution operations.
Domtar is next in line behind landowners, forest managers and loggers in the value chain. We rely on wood fiber that comes from actively managed forests owned by our neighbors in the communities surrounding our mills. Most of the wood that goes into the manufacturing process is derived from small pulpwood trees or residual waste generated when local sawmills process logs into lumber. Professional loggers and foresters who work with landowners to maintain ecological values like wildlife habitat and water quality are crucial partners in our supply chain.
The Summit brought together stakeholders from across the forest products supply chain to define the value of forest certification. What were some of your impressions from the discussion tables and interactions with the various value chain members?
I was very impressed by the open and constructive conversations between the wide ranging attendees who had never before been represented in the same room together. I thought the dialogue was rich and revealing, particularly as those from each end of the value chain articulated their respective goals and objectives to each other. I heard common sentiments about the importance of responsible land stewardship, economic value, and community viability.
What do you think were some successes of the Summit and what would you have liked to seen done better?
Certainly, the greatest success was the creation of a comfortable forum for passionate and respectful dialogue, active participation and enthusiasm for the next step. In future sessions, I would like to see even greater landowner and lumber market participation, and inclusion of more NGO stakeholders.
You have been involved in this project since the very beginning, from your perspective, what do you see as the critical next steps for this project?
Action! It strikes me that everyone in the value chain cares about keeping forests as working forests, seeks a return on investment, and recognizes the social value of our community cultures within which we each work and live. Within that overarching common framework, we should be able to create a solution that affirms landowner goals, maintains the economic engines in our communities and provides brand owners with independently verified certainty that the supply chain is indeed sustainable. We can do this!
One of the things that came up in the Summit discussions was expanding the scope of the value chain that we are currently working with. Are there any sectors or specific organizations that you think should be engaged in this work?
As I mentioned earlier, the supply chain for other product sectors that rely on the forest should be part of this conversation. That would include the higher value solid wood sector that begins the pipeline for lumber, engineered wood products, furniture, flooring and other products used by consumers across the globe. I also think that environmental organizations and foundations with similar missions and values should be engaged.
Lisa, I want to thank you and Domtar again for helping us put on the Summit. Is there anything else that you would like to mention about the Summit or project?
Just that there is no question in my mind that this project is necessary and success is vital to maintain the forests and social fabric of North America.
We definitely agree on that last point! Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us; we are looking forward to continuing to work with you.
In advance of the GreenBlue Innovation Summit on Forest Certification on June 12, GreenBlue interviewed a few of the event sponsors to hear their perspectives on why a Summit was needed. While informal, the interviews are intended to provide insights from different supply chain positions on expected outcomes from the event, as well as how this kind of event can help advance the forest products industry.
For our second interview in the series, we sat down with Townsend Bailey, Strategic Sourcing Manager of the Worldwide Supply Chain at McDonald’s Corporation.
Green Blue: Can you tell us a little about McDonald’s and how you fit into the forest products industry? Where do you fall in the value chain?
Townsend Bailey: With over 34,000 locations around the world, our restaurants use a lot of fiber-based packaging to serve our food. We want to make sure that all of it comes from responsible sources and well managed forests. Fiber sourcing is a top sustainability priority for McDonald’s, and we recently announced our target for 100% of our fiber-based packaging to be from recycled or certified sources by 2020.
McDonald’s is a sponsor of the GreenBlue Innovation Summit on Forest Certification, thank you for helping us make this event a reality. The summit will bring together stakeholders from across the forest products value chain to define the value of forest certification. Why is this important to McDonald’s, and why do you think all of the other supply chain participants should attend?
For McDonald’s, sustainability is about making sure that we are prepared to continue serving our customers well into the future. It’s about growing our business by making a positive impact on society. Specifically, certification is important to McDonald’s because people care where their food comes from and how it is sourced.
But the challenges of sustainability are bigger than any one company or sector of the value chain. Answering these challenges will require innovative thinking and collaboration, and McDonald’s wants to be part of the solution.
As an individual, you have been an active participant in the working group on this topic. What are you hoping the takeaway is from this event? What can other Supply Chain Sustainability Managers expect? What does success look like for the GreenBlue Innovation Summit on Forest Certification?
I expect good discussions with partners across the value chain, and would like to see ideas generated around ways technology could be better leveraged to ease the administrative burden and costs of certification without sacrificing the credibility and impact of the systems. I also hope the event will foster more collaboration between the leading certification systems in North America.
For people that have not been involved in the project up to this point, but will be attending the event or are interested in the work being done, is there anything that you would like to tell them about why forest certification is such a pressing topic in the forest products industry?
Certification systems provide a strong framework for guiding and measuring responsible forest management practices. For brand owners like McDonald’s, who sit far from the forest where their products originate, certification is an important way to verify that their products are produced in ways that are consistent with their values.
Some people will be traveling a long ways to come to this event, do you have any favorite books, apps, or articles you’re reading that you would recommend?
I am about halfway through Christine Bader’s new book, The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil. So far it’s been a great read. It introduces the human side of corporations while also capturing the real challenges of change and progress. I look forward to finishing it on the flight to Charlotte.
Townsend, thank you and McDonald’s again for helping us put on the upcoming summit. We are looking forward to strong participation and lively discussions.
To be a part of this important discussion, find us on Twitter @greenblueorg.
In advance of the GreenBlue Innovation Summit on Forest Certification on June 12, GreenBlue interviewed a few of the event sponsors to hear their perspectives on why a Summit was needed. While informal, the interviews are intended to provide insights from different supply chain positions on expected outcomes from the event, as well as how this kind of event can help advance the forest products industry.
For the first interview in our series, we sat down with Andrew Gustyn, Director of Sustainability – North America of Unisource Worldwide.
Green Blue: Can you tell us a bit about Unisource and how you fit into the forest products industry? Where do you fall in the value chain?
Andrew Gustyn: Unisource is in the business of selling paper, packaging and facility solutions (jan-san products). We represent a large cross section of the paper, packaging and towel and tissue manufacturers from both North America and around the globe. Tree fibers are an input into all of those products. This means we are a key link in the chain that allows those items to move from the manufacturers to commercial printers, businesses and corporate end users.
Unisource is a sponsor of the GreenBlue Innovation Summit on Forest Certification, thank you for helping us make this event a reality. The summit will bring together stakeholders from across the forest products supply chain to define the value of forest certification to better drive adoption and acceptance of forest certification. Why is this important to Unisource, and why do you think all of the other supply chain participants should attend?
Unisource made an early investment in infrastructure to provide transparency to our customers through the supply chain, via our Chain of Custody certifications. We feel that we have reached a point where an open and frank discussion is necessary with stakeholders both up and down the supply chain in order to understand the challenges and benefits of forestry certification. Given that a very small percentage of the world’s harvested forests fall under any recognized certification scheme, there is a great opportunity for forestry certification growth. I think we have reached a point where many of the stakeholders seem to be having issues in getting a clear picture of the cost/benefit of these programs. As an industry, if we feel that forestry certification is going to grow we need to address some of these issues in an open dialogue.
As an individual, you have been an active participant in the working group on this topic. What are you hoping the takeaway is from this event? What can other Sustainability Directors expect? What does success look like for the GreenBlue Innovation Summit on Forest Certification?
Our hope is that this is just a first step for continued dialogue with all stakeholders. We would like to get a better understanding of our customers’, suppliers’ and certification bodies’ stories. Rather than it being an exercise in negotiation, we would like to see this become an opportunity for collaboration.
For people that have not been involved in the project up to this point, but will be attending the event or are interested in the work being done, is there anything that you would like to tell them about why forest certification is such a pressing topic in the forest products industry?
I made mention of this before, but with just a very small percentage of the world’s forests falling under any of the recognized certification schemes, there is an opportunity for significant growth. Although paper use and production may have declined in North America and Europe, that is not the case in the developing world. As some of these economies grow to maturity, the world’s forests will continue to be put under pressure. Recycling is only part of the solution; responsible forestry can help.
Some people will be traveling a long way to come to this event, do you have any favorite books, apps, or articles you’re reading that you would recommend?
Wow, now that’s a really difficult question. There are so many good resources out there. I know that this may sound a bit like I am sitting on the fence, but what I would suggest to people is to broaden the scope of where you get your information. Read, listen and research as many different sources as possible. The ENGO’s, the industry groups, the independent third party groups like GreenBlue, the merchants, the mills, the foresters, the end users, the certification bodies all have a story to tell. Each has a perspective, if this is important, take the time to learn those perspectives and then formulate an opinion.
Andrew, I want to thank you and Unisource again for helping us put on the upcoming summit. We are looking forward to strong participation and lively discussions, is there anything else that you would like to mention about the summit or project?
We are really looking forward to participating in this event and we are hoping that this is just the beginning of a much longer journey. Stay tuned.
Thanks, and we are looking forward to seeing you in Charlotte.
Making packaging more sustainable is not an easy task. The sustainability of any given package is the result of a complex series of interactions—between retailers and brand owners, converters and raw material suppliers, waste management companies and consumers—and more sustainable packaging can only be realized if sustainability considerations are deeply embedded across the entire supply chain. Packaging World
In May 2012, GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) announced that five new companies joined the soft launch of the How2Recycle Label, a voluntary recycling labeling system developed by the SPC to provide clear recycling information to consumers, while conforming to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) “Green Guides.” Packaging Digest
At May 2012 Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in New York, CEOs from various natural and organic cosmetic and personal care companies said one big issue with eco-friendly packaging is it’s not attractive. Apparently these CEOs are not the only ones who think green products need a face lift. GreenBlue’s CEO, Lance Hosey, also agrees that sustainable products (across the green gamut, not just packaging) needs some style. Inside Cosmeceuticals
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Designing Sustainability That Sells
Consumers are beginning to express their desire for more sustainable products. But by and large, those products are not making themselves easy to love. Lance Hosey, who keynoted at the recent Sustainable Brands conference, believes there’s still a fundamental disconnect between form and function in green product design. Simply put, products that are more sustainable tend to telegraph sensible, not sexy. Fast.Co Exist
…In this engaging examination of greater green possibilities, Hosey–President and CEO of GreenBlue, a nonprofit dedicated to sustainability–makes a rational argument that design and sustainability can not only coexist, they can fuse to create vibrant, livable spaces. Publishers Weekly
