Drinks made with the FSC certified packaging are now on sale in all German braches of the Lidl supermarket.
Supply chain management
The retail launch comes three months after SIG had all its production plants in Europe certified in accordance with the FSC criteria for a complete chain of custody (CoC) verification. On the back of that certification process SIG claims to be the first company that can sell aseptic carton packs in Europe with the FSC mixed sources label.
This confirms that all the wood fibres – which make up 75 per cent of the container content - are traceable “without interruption along the entire value-added chain from the labelled carton pack to the forest of origin,” said SIG.
To achieve this traceability, the company demands that all its suppliers of unprocessed cartonboard operate production facilities that are certified according to the FSC CoC standard.
An FSC checklist consisting of 10 mandatory principles and 56 criteria for good forestry is in place to conserve the integrity of the initiative.
Compliance with the principles and criteria by the certified companies is checked on an ongoing basis by independent certification organisations, and the outcomes reported back to the FSC.
Environmental and commercial benefits
SIG claims that FSC offers customers like Lidl certification from a renowned third party, making both environmental and commercial sense for both parties.
When SIG announced its supply chain initiatives back in July, SIG spokesperson Michael Hecker said: “The FSC label provides the link between responsible production and consumption and thereby enables the consumer to make socially and environmentally responsible purchasing decisions. FSC creates value at the point of sales.”
SIG says the FSC CoC certification of it European sites was a step on the road to certifying 100 per cent of its global operations.