Sheridan Magazine Services: News Releases

United Litho Receives Forest Stewardship Council Certification

May 2008 — To enable more environmentally and socially responsible supply-chain decisions, United Litho, Inc., a leading provider of printing and publishing services to special-interest and association magazine publishers and one of two magazine printing plants represented by Sheridan Magazine Services, recently completed the process of acquiring Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain-of-Custody certification (SGS-COC-004057) from the SGS Group, the world’s largest organization in the field of third-party inspection and verification. This certification allows ULI to be responsive to a growing trend in the paper and printing industry of companies making more environmentally and socially responsible supply-chain decisions.

Chain-of-custody certification verifies that products from certified forests are not mixed with products from uncertified forests at any point in the supply chain, from the forest to the consumer. Conscientious consumers can look for the FSC logo on wood products to know they are supporting forest management that protects biodiversity and supports local communities.

"All of the papers we currently offer our customers, whether recycled or not, are provided by mills and distributors who follow responsible forestry practices, such as those established by the Forest Stewardship Council,” said Chris Azbill, vice president of operations at United Litho. “This chain-of-custody certification will allow us to provide the option to our customers to produce a magazine using 100% guaranteed FSC-certified paper – from forest to printed product.” Azbill noted that both of the paper merchants used by United Litho – Frank Parsons and Xpedx – are FSC certified, as are the two major paper companies used (Sappi and New Page).

Founded in 1878, the SGS Group operates in more than 140 countries with over 1,180 offices and more than 32,000 full-time employees. The SGS Qualifor Program is the SGS Group’s forest certification program, internationally accredited by FSC. SGS has granted more than 180 forest management certificates covering over 40 million acres of forest in more than 40 countries.

Get more information on other paper trends here.