Minor FSC components hit the marketplace
Each year, millions of wooden dowels packed on lorries leave the warehouse facilities of the Danish company Nissenpack A/S and travel to buyers across Europe.
Now the company has taken the opportunity to support responsible forestry based on its sales of these small items, based on an FSC chain of custody certificate.
Logistics Manager of Nissenpack, Michael Sangill Mikkelsen, says: "Our Chinese supplier of dowels recently obtained FSC certification, so we were aware of the option to get certified supplies. We were already contemplating certification and took the decision immediately once we started to experience demands for certified from some of the furniture factories we work with".
Good news for furniture makers
In terms of volumes, small furniture parts like dowels may not seem very significant, but they can constitute a bottleneck in the FSC system.
Many composite products contain very small parts - minor components - that are neither available as FSC-certified nor as controlled wood certified on the marketplace. This applies to for example dowels, knobs, and fittings.
To meet this problem, the FSC chain of custody rules do allow the inclusion of non-certified minor components that make up a maximum 5% of the total volume or weight of a product.
However, whenever the small components constitute more than 1% of the product, then the manufacturer needs to pass through a relatively complex derogation procedure.
By joining the small group of FSC-certified suppliers of wooden components worldwide, Nissenpack A/S helps to provide manufacturers of FSC certified assembled products with the easier option - to buy the component as certified.
Active use of the certificate
With the certificate in place, Nissenpack A/S now wants to make the most of it and develop its certified trade. Mikkelsen plans to use the company's brand new certification for promotion at this year's ZOW fair in Germany. ZOW is the most important international trade event for the furniture supply industries.
"Initially, we will offer certified dowels, but we hope to be able to offer other wooden furniture pars such as knobs as well in the future. One of our suppliers, a Danish turnery, has embarked on a certification process in response to our demands", explains Mikkelsen.
About Nissenpack A/S
Nissenpack A/S has an extensive product range comprising more than 5,500 articles.
The company supplies furniture and kitchen producers with fittings, handles, drawer runners as well as ready-made fittings bags and boxes. Although wooden items make up less than 10% of the company's total product volume, this did not keep the company from taking responsibility for its wood sourcing.
Nissenpack obtained its FSC chain of custody certificate, SW-COC-004609, from the Rainforest Alliance on 14 January 2010. The certificate was based on third-party assessments carried out by NEPCon. Learn more about Nissenpack at www.nissenpack.com.
