30
June
2020
|
12:45
Europe/London

Simplyhealth achieves FSC® Certification

Simplyhealth, the leading health cash plan and dental plan provider, has demonstrated its commitment to using environmentally responsible resources by achieving Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) certification.

FSC is an international, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of the world’s forests through a global certification system.

The FSC system allows businesses to identify, purchase and use wood, paper and other forest products made with materials from well-managed forests and recycled sources.

As an FSC certified organisation, Simplyhealth will buy as sustainably as possible and prove that its FSC products and materials have been checked at every stage of processing by what is called a ‘chain of custody’. The chain of custody refers to every business and process involved in trading from the tree to the end product. At Simplyhealth, products carry the FSC's “tick tree” logo to indicate they are certified under the FSC system.

To achieve FSC certification a business must be able to demonstrate that the forest-based materials and products they will promote or sell as FSC certified are genuine. At Simplyhealth, this applies to products such as envelopes and paper for information leaflets and posters.

FSC certification is something that Simplyhealth has been taking steps to achieve since last year. Preparations have taken about four months and have included setting up a tracking system so that every FSC certified product can be tracked from the moment it comes in the door to when it leaves the business, ensuring every piece of paper carrying the FSC trademark is genuine. Simplyhealth is audited annually by an independent, FSC accredited certification body and the company’s unique FSC licence (FSC®C155117) code appears on the labels of all Simplyhealth printed materials.

Richard Gillies, Chief Operating Officer at Simplyhealth
As a trusted responsible business, we’re always thinking about how we can reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact as part of our long-term sustainable business strategy. We believe it is important to choose sustainable resources. We were already ensuring that our paper and envelopes did not need chlorine bleaching as this is harmful to wildlife and being FSC certified further demonstrates our commitment to complying with the highest environmental standards.
Richard Gillies, Chief Operating Officer at Simplyhealth

Globally, there are more than 200 million hectares of forest certified to FSC standards. Worldwide there are more than 41,744 FSC chain of custody certificates. In the UK there are 2,268 chain of custody certificates.

ENDS