Buying products made of wood? Be sure to check whether they are FSC-certified

• The FSC certificate guarantees that by using timber, we are not harming the environment or the people living in symbiosis with it.
• The certificate is issued by the global non-profit organisation Forest Stewardship Council in an independent audit process.
• To be FSC-certified, a timber supplier must meet exacting environmental protection standards and, among other things, care for its employees.
• Certified timber is monitored from felling until it is processed into a finished product. There is no room for manipulation.
• On the website of the certificate issuer, it is possible to check at any time whether a particular timber supplier is certified. Eko-Okna S.A. only uses certified timber.
• Is wood not your thing? Check out aluminium doors and learn why they are a good choice for your home.
  

• What does FSC certification entail?
• How to obtain FSC certification?
• Supply chain integrity
• Eko-Okna S.A. and the FSC certificate
• Where to check the FSC certificate?

FSC certification is a crucial part of the global wood industry. When you buy timber products, always ensure that the company offering them can display such a document so that you indirectly contribute to protecting the environment.

What does FSC certification entail?

At this point, most people are surely wondering what exactly FSC certification stands for. In a nutshell, FSC certification proves that you use ecological wood products and prevent harm to the planet and humanity. Wood is, of course, ecological in itself, but the process of harvesting it can be very harmful.

In formal terms, FSC certification is a document issued by the Forest Stewardship Council, a global non-profit organisation bringing together producers of wood itself, manufacturers of wood products, environmental bodies, non-profit organisations, scientific institutions and many others.

The primary task of the FSC, including its Polish unit, is to fulfil the organisation's five primary objectives:

• developing sustainable forestry on a global scale;
• ensuring equal access to the benefits of the FSC system;
• ensuring credibility, transparency and fairness of certification processes;
• creating added value for certified wood products;
• strengthening global networking for the implementation of objectives 1-4.

These are the objectives of the organisation itself. Obtaining certification requires the fulfilment of much more practical recommendations.

How to obtain FSC certification?

The Forest Stewardship Council offers its FSC certificate to those who successfully pass a certification process organised not by the FSC but by independent bodies that audit timber producers interested in certification.

The list of requirements for producers is long. The most significant of these are:

• compliance with national and international law;
• having indisputable rights over the exploited raw material;
• caring for the long-term well-being of communities affected by logging;
• ensuring safe working conditions for workers;
• reducing the impact of logging on the ecosystem.

When a particular timber supplier passes an audit, it earns the right to use the FSC logo for five years. After this period, recertification is required.

Supply chain integrity

The crucial concept when it comes to FSC certification is supply chain integrity. This is an element you should be concerned about because dishonest producers frequently pass timber from hand to hand, concealing its origin. The practice is similar to money laundering.

Certified timber is checked to ensure that its origin is not concealed, and its entire journey is carefully traced from the moment it is felled to the delivery of the raw material directly to the final producer, such as Eko-Okna S.A. The FSC certificate guarantees that nothing ethically questionable, let alone criminal, has happened during the whole timber supply process.

Eko-Okna S.A. and the FSC certificate

Eko-Okna S.A. uses only FSC-certified wood for the production of:

• wooden windows
• wooden doors
• wooden sliding systems
• all-in-one systems

In other words, all products offered by Eko-Okna S.A. are based exclusively on certified timber. This is one of the elements of the social responsibility and sustainable development strategy implemented by our company, an entity aware of its role as a leading joinery manufacturer in the European market.

Where to check the FSC certificate?

It is remarkably easy to check the FSC certificate. The Forest Stewardship Council publishes a complete list of certified entities on its website. The website features a search engine, which you can use to find the organisation you are interested in. In addition, the site contains information about companies that lost the certificate or were denied it.

The FSC certificate assures you that if you want to be environmentally responsible, you actually are. Alas, good intentions are often exploited by dishonest parties. The verification system ensures that you do not become a victim of this and that you are part of the climate solution, not part of the problem.

It is important to remember that the FSC certificate is a certificate for wood suppliers and not for finished product manufacturers. Therefore, it is not Eko-Okna S.A. itself that holds it, but the suppliers of the raw material from which all products of the Kornice giant are made.

The FSC Forests for All Forever™ logo is a registered trademark of The Forest Stewardship Council A.C. and is used for illustrative purposes only.