FSC Certified
Silver tier — Forest audited — chain of custody to your shelfWood and paper from forests managed for long-term health. Third-party audited. The standard for paper, wood products, and fiber-based packaging.
- The Forest Stewardship Council was founded in 1993.
- Certification covers both forest management and chain of custody — every processor between forest and shelf holds a certificate.
- Three label types: FSC 100%, FSC Mix, and FSC Recycled — printed on the label itself.
- Certificates are maintained through annual surveillance audits by accredited certification bodies.
What does FSC Certified require?
FSC certifies two things at once. Forest management: the forest is harvested for long-term health, with protections for biodiversity, water, and the rights of workers and indigenous communities. Chain of custody: every mill, converter, and printer between that forest and your shelf holds its own certificate, so the fiber in the certified box is actually traceable to certified sources.
Check the label type: FSC 100% means all fiber comes from certified forests; FSC Mix allows a blend with controlled sources; FSC Recycled is exactly what it says.
Who audits it, and how often?
Accredited certification bodies audit both the forests and every chain-of-custody link, with annual surveillance audits to keep certificates active. It is the most established audit trail in fiber — which is why it is the standard GreenSpecs expects on paper products.
What does FSC Certified not cover?
FSC covers where the fiber came from, not what happened next: bleaching chemistry, manufacturing energy, transport emissions, and packaging design are all out of scope. FSC Mix in particular is weaker than FSC 100% — same logo family, meaningfully different claim. The packaging signal scores those downstream questions separately.
How does GreenSpecs weight FSC Certified?
GreenSpecs treats FSC as the anchor cert for paper, wood, and fiber packaging — expected on toilet paper, paper towels, and cardboard, with FSC 100% weighted above FSC Mix. On products where fiber is the whole story, holding no FSC claim at all is a gap the certifications signal will show.
Scan a product that carries this cert and see how it lands in the full five-signal score.