Wood industries use the Rainforest Alliance advantage
The Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM seal is a well-known hallmark of sustainability for tropical crops such as coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, bananas and pineapples.
Trend-setting companies such as Unilever and Kraft Foods are engaging with the Rainforest Alliance and setting up goals to increasingly source from Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM farms.
Hence the growing chances of seeing the seal in your local store, e.g. on Lipton Tea, Chiquita Bananas, Kenco and Costa Coffee, Mars chocolate, and many other commodity brands.
The frog jumps on wood and paper products
Now the seal is seen more often in connection with wood-based products as well. FSC/Rainforest Alliance certified companies have access to use the seal alongside the FSC logo, demonstrating that the company went through a rigorous FSC auditing process conducted by the Rainforest Alliance or its partners NEPCon and IMAFLORA.
"Our clients in the printing sector have been faster than others to pick up the advantage of offering both the FSC and the Rainforest Alliance frog eco-label to their clients", explains Jon Jickling, Director of the Rainforest Alliance’s Smartwood Program.
"However, other FSC/Rainforest Alliance certified companies have now spotted the frog seal advantage and they are increasingly using it. We're seeing the seal used by manufacturers of a wide range of products, from outdoor decoration to wooden toys and even biofuels".
Ets ROBIN S.A.R.L., a French FSC/ Rainforest Alliance certified company, is using the frog seal to promote its FSC wood products.
Jickling continues: "One example is the world's largest manufacturer of paper bags, Duro Bag Mfg, which produces bags with the seal on them alongside the FSC logo. The bags are sold to and used by iconic brands such as Starbucks Coffee Company, Whole Foods Market, outdoor gear company REI, and the international clothing company Zara. This will bring a whole new awareness of the seal used on paper products".
High market recognition
"The visibility of the seal in supermarkets across Europe and the US makes it an eco-label of choice for companies wishing to differentiate themselves on the growing market for responsible products", says Jickling.
“Within the past few years, the frog seal has become a strong eco-label with a high level of consumer recognition. For example, an independent survey conducted this summer showed that the seal is now recognized by 35% of the German population. Last year, the figure was 26%”. Even higher consumer recognition figures of more than 40% have been found to exist on the UK market.
In the large German airports at Frankfurt and Munich, free Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM coffee is available from around 100 vending machines.
