Three Danish national newspapers have decided to go for FSC-labeling, and plan to launch the first labeled papers on the 1st of December.
The papers – Politiken, Kristeligt Dagblad and Information – will be among the first national newspapers in the world committed to carry the FSC label on a daily basis.
Politiken is one of the largest Danish newspapers. Production manager Erik Møller of Politiken comments: "We have been considering eco-labeling of our paper for a long time, and after exploring the options we chose the FSC label. This was not the easiest choice for us, but we wanted the most recognized label in the market”.
Engagement throughout the supply chain
“We knew that our supply chain had to overcome a number of challenges, and I wanted this to happen before the UN climate change summit”, says Møller. “Thanks to the hard work of our suppliers, this is now coming true”.
About 150,000 FSC-labeled newspapers are expected to leave four Danish printing houses every day starting on the 1st of December.
The labeling of a newsprint circulation this size has been made possible due to the FSC chain of custody certification of the Danish newspapers' joint procurement organization Pressens Fællesindkøb (Procurement Association of the Danish Press). The organization's multi-site certificate also covers the traceability of the printing process, carried out by independent printing houses.
The association is owned by the Danish press and procures the paper used for all Danish newspapers - 1.5 million papers per day. About 250,000 tons of paper pass through the hands of the organization per year.
“It has been a tight process requiring a lot of work”, says Technical Manager Søren Winsløw of the association. "But the certification process has also engaged people throughout our system – right from our administration to the staff of the involved printing houses and newspapers. It is clear that this issue truly engages people”.
The supplier of paper for the certified newspaper production, Norske Skog ASA, has also been an active and involved partner in the overall process, Winsløw says. Norske Skog ASA has undergone FSC chain of custody certification in parallel with the Procurement Association of the Danish Press and obtained its certificate on the 1st of November 2009 – one month before the planned launch of the labeled newspapers.
“Participating in this gound-breaking process has been very interesting", says Michael Jakobsen, senior auditor of NEPCon. "The Procurement Association of the Danish Press has done a tremendous job setting up and implementing all the necessary chain of custody procedures, while also working with their supplier to ensure a stable delivery of FSC paper for the three newspapers".
Pilot project
“We are running a 6-month pilot project on FSC-labeling”, explains Winsløw. “Then our Board will decide whether we will carry on with the labeling and maybe even expand it to some of our other members among the Danish media”.
One of the key issues here is how the label will be received by the newspaper readers. “It’s important for us that the label really helps to create more positive views of the newspapers’ paper consumption”, says Winsløw.
He also has some recommendations for the FSC system: “The rules could certainly be less complex – learning to manage a multi-site certificate such as ours is an awesome job even though we were well informed and serviced by NEPCon. And the text included in the on-product labels should be understandable for the average reader!”
So far, four of the association’s printing houses including the largest printing house in Denmark are covered by a multi-site certificate. Due to the logistics involved, initially only those of Politiken’s subscribers living in the Eastern part of Denmark will get their daily paper with the FSC-label on. The other two newspapers will carry the FSC label in all parts of Denmark right from the beginning.
FSC jokes in the media
Even before the first labeled newspaper has seen the light of day, the newspapers' commitment has resulted in some media coverage of FSC.
Including a reference in probably one of the single most read pages of all Danish media - the back page of Politiken called "ATS" reserved for jokes and satirical stuff: "In future, ATS will exclusively bring certified satire. Every time we use one joke we will plant a new one, and furthermore, we will ensure that the points are recycled to the fullest possible extent. Watery jokes will only be included during periods of scarce or no precipitation".
Den Danske Presses Fælles-Indkøbsforening (Procurement Association of the Danish Press) obtained its FSC multi-site certificate from the Rainforest Alliance on the 18th of November 2009. The certíficate was based on third-party evaluation carried out by NEPCon. The certificate registration code is: SW-COC-004480.
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This article was amended on the 3rd of December 2009. When it was first published, it seemed clear that the Danish newspapers would be the first FSC-labeled daiily newspapers in the world; but a Dutch financial newspaper “Het Financieele Dagblad” unexpectedly won the race: It was published on the 26th of November, just four days before the launch of the Danish FSC-certified papers. Congratulations to Het Financieele Dagblad - and to both the Dutch and the Danish newspapers on their clear commitment to responsible forestry!
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