SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability is critical to our business and our customers can have complete confidence in the products they buy from us, the origin of the materials used and the method of manufacture.

As a socially, economically and environmentally responsible company, we adhere to stringent New Zealand and international environmental laws, only sourcing the fibre for our products from internationally certified suppliers.

We are committed to purchasing wood fibre for pulp making operations from sustainably managed forestry sources which conserve areas of outstanding habitat and operate in harmony with local communities.

To support this commitment, all of our paper comes from sources that are independently verified by credible third party auditors including TUV Rheinland, SGS and various government organisations.

A significant number of our retail tissue products are licenced to proudly display the Environmental Choice New Zealand (ECNZ) ecolabel, giving our customers complete peace of mind and reassurance that we operate sustainably and responsibly.

Initiated and endorsed by the New Zealand Government and operated by The New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust, ECNZ operates to internationally recognised standards and principles. It recognises the genuine moves made by manufacturers to reduce the environmental impacts of their products and provides a credible and independent guide for consumers who want to purchase products with lower environmental impact.

The New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust is a member of the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) which is a partnership of over 75 environmental and sustainable development organisations coordinated by the United Nations Environment programme.

The ECNZ ecolabel requirements for sanitary paper cover environmental legal compliance, sustainable fibre sourcing, hazardous substance use, emissions to air and water, energy and waste management, packaging and product performance. Assessments also included chain of custody controls from the forest, through the pulp mill, and paper mill and Cottonsofts converting plants.
The ECNZ ecolabel is recognised by overseas governments and agencies for its robust assessment criteria. Under the ECNZ standard for sanitary paper (link), Cottonsoft demonstrated that our fibre is from legally harvested sources. It is required that no virgin input (including forest waste and wood sources) is sourced from native forests unless they are they are licensed under PEFC or FSC as sustainably managed.
The ENCZ ecolabel offers a sure, simple guide to consumers to a better purchasing choice of environmental products.

The ECNZ licence builds on our PEFC chain of custody certification, giving our customers complete peace of mind and reassurance that Cottonsoft operates sustainably and responsibly.

Click here to see our ECNZ Licence.

Cottonsoft retail products use paper certified through the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC); ensuring that our paper comes from sustainable sources. As the only entirely not-for-profit global forest certification system available, PEFC is unique.

PEFC is the world’s largest forest certification system.

PEFC has:

endorsed over 30 nations certification systems
certified 259 million hectares of forests – (roughly 8 times the land mass of New Zealand) with 498,433 Forest owners worldwide.
There are two internationally recognised certification schemes in the world, the largest of which is PEFC. Both schemes prompt substantial, important changes in forest management to improve environmental, social and economic outcomes.

To date, more than 8000 companies have obtained PEFC Chain of Custody Certification, including Cottonsoft Ltd.

In New Zealand, our plants have PEFC Chain of Custody (CoC) certification. This carries a responsibility to ensure that 100% of our raw materials for certified products are either PEFC certified or are non-controversial sources under PEFC.

PEFC stands for sustainability.

PEFC is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) through Forest and Chain of Custody independent third-party certification.

Forest certification assures that forests are managed in line with challenging environmental, social, and economic requirements.

Chain of Custody certification enables certified material to be tracked from forest to the final product and ensures that wood fibre is legal, traceable and from sustainably managed forests.

PEFC is about the supply of Certified Product and Chain of Custody certification enables certified material to be tracked from forest to the final product and ensures that wood fibre is legal, traceable and from sustainably managed forests. This ensures that two views are covered - this being Sustainable Forest Management and sourcing of Wood & Paper Products as well as Legal Forest Management and sourcing of Wood & Paper Products.

PEFC’s Sustainability Benchmarks include requirements to:

Safeguard ecologically important forest areas
Protect and enhance biological diversity
Prohibit forest conversions
Prohibit most hazardous chemicals
Prohibit genetically modified trees
Respect the rights of workers and indigenous peoples
Encourage local employment
Comply with fundamental ILO conventions
Provide consultation with local people and stakeholders
Respect traditional land rights and local customs

For more information on PEFC Chain of Custody, visit www.pefc.org.

Cottonsoft's PEFC Due Diligence Procedures require our suppliers of paper raw material to complete a Supplier Evaluation and Risk Assessment (SERA). The purpose of the SERA is to ensure that we use paper from sustainable sources that comply with at least one of the following certification/verification schemes.

Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Chain of Custody – which ensures that claims about products originating in sustainably managed forests are credible and verifiable throughout the whole supply chain.
The Indonesian Wood Legality Verification System (SVLK) - a rigorous chain of custody process designed to ensure that mills only receive and process timber from legal sources, and that all products exported from Indonesia are traceable to verifiable points of origin.
The Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (LEI) Chain of Custody – certifies that the product is produced from a source that is managed based on environmental values, economical principles, and social norms.
Timber Legality & Traceability Verification (TLTV) – an independent third party verification that assures forest management companies as well as everyone else working within the timber supply chain that timber products are produced in compliance with the relevant legality and chain of custody criteria.
Non-Controversial under PEFC Guidelines - verification that the product has originated from a source that has been legally verified according to non-controversial requirements under PEFC guidelines.

In June 2012, our preferred supplier Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) launched its Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020. A milestone in the history of the company, we share in this journey that places sustainability at the heart of every facet of our operation. This sets the company on course to be a leading world-class paper company solely based on sustainable plantation sources.