Fundación COPADE, Ence and Brandia have created the first bag in the world certified with paper manufactured with the highest international standards of forest certification and Fair Trade. An initiative in which the NGO has worked for more than three years together with the European leader in the production of eucalyptus pulp and the paper company and, which has allowed it to transfer the principles of Fair Trade, first, to the forestry sector, and now also to the paper sector with this project.
The FSC® C114011 certification ensures that the materials and raw materials used to make the bag come from sustainable forests, managed in a responsible way to prevent deforestation from taking place, as well as to avoid a negative impact on the environment.
On the other hand, through the Fundación COPADE Fair Wood certification –the first fair trade seal for the forestry sector and the wood industry–, it is guaranteed that the entire production process and the supply chain used for manufacturing of the bags, meet the environmental, social and economic criteria of Fair Trade. In this way, the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the sustainable management of forests are promoted, as well as responsible employment and fair conditions.
The pulp produced by Ence with the “Fair Wood” certificate comes from sources endorsed by the highest international standards of forest certification, which originate from forests belonging to Ence’s forest heritage and from purchases from small forest owners and communities of neighboring forests in common hands .
The profits that these sales originate allow forest owners to generate value in their forest stands, and in this way, they contribute to avoid abandonment and the lack of forestry.
“This project in which we have been working for more than three years, together with Ence and Brandia, is the achievement of an intense work to bring Fair Trade to the paper sector in Spain. It is undoubtedly a success for all of us who are part of it, including small owners and wood processors ”, says Javier Fernández, general director of Fundación COPADE.
It must be remembered that in the world, more than 200 kilograms of plastic are thrown into our seas and oceans every second, which means more than 100 million kilos of plastics that flood our blue spaces each year.
Leroy Merlin, the first company in the world to bet on the Madera Justa and FSC® certified bags
Companies like Leroy Merlin have already acquired these bags as part of their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility and their policy of responsible purchasing of wood products, in which they seek to incorporate social and environmental sustainability criteria with an emphasis on forest certification. The bags will be available starting this February in its line of boxes, as part of a special edition with the designs of the winning students of its Hazlo Verde environmental awareness program for children.
In addition to paper bags, Leroy Merlin has been marketing, for a decade, the line of garden conditioning products “Madera Justa”, manufactured by forest communities located in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, in the department of Petén (Guatemala) .
Those companies or individuals who want to purchase these bags can now do so through the Fundación COPADE online store.
“Now more than ever, public awareness, through the promotion of responsible purchasing in local commerce, as well as the reduction of the use of single-use plastics is fundamental and with this action we have established a union so that both impacts can be demonstrated and experienced by the city itself ”, concludes Fernández.
