ITC’s membership
of the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) is an important milestone in its sustainability journey, and an indicator of
ITC’s commitment towards certifying its fibre to credible standards and offering
its customers products which are certified under labeling programmes of credible
schemes like FSC®.
The GFTN is WWF’s initiative to eliminate illegal
logging and improve the management of valuable and threatened forests, while
encouraging sustainable forest management practices and minimizing the forest
footprint of industries trading in or procuring forest goods.
ITC’s
Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division (ITC PSPD), draws from the corporate
commitment to the Triple Bottom Line, and continuously works towards becoming
the benchmark for sustainable practices in the paper industry in all areas of
its operations – right from sourcing of fibre, to the efficient use of resources
including energy and water, to the disposal of waste and in improving the
environmental signature of our products. Taking the lead in the Indian paper
industry, ITC PSPD has signed this agreement of membership with WWF GFTN on the
1st of July 2009. “ITC’s participation in the GFTN is in line with its
commitment to sustainable forestry management and manufacture of paperboards and
paper products from renewable plantations”, said Pradeep Dhobale, Divisional
Chief Executive, ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division. Mr Chand Das,
Chief Executive, ITC’s Education and Stationery Products Business added - “ITC’s
stationery products including Classmate notebooks and Paperkraft premium
business paper leverage this eco friendly paper manufactured from renewable
sources and using cutting edge environmental technology to provide a quality
experience to consumers”
With this
membership, and assistance from WWF GFTN, ITC will seek to progressively cover
the wood sourced from its farm and social forestry programmes under a credible
forest management scheme like FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®). The increasing
volume of certified fibre sourced from these plantations will enable ITC to
offer to discerning customers, products labeled under credible Chain of Custody
certification (CoC) schemes like FSC®.
This will
include business to business products such as packaging boards, graphic
application boards and a wide range of communication papers, and its consumer
range of paper products like Paperkraft copier and notebooks, and Classmate
notebooks marketed by ITC’s Education and Stationery Products
Business.
This will
address the growing need amongst Indian customers to exercise their preference
for purchasing environmentally responsible products.