A joint initiative from twenty-three publishers to promote responsible paper supply chains. In 2012, PREPS membership was also opened to printers. PREPS has developed a database focusing on various aspects of the pulp and paper manufacturing processes, the forests from where the raw materials originate, as well as CO2 emissions and water use at the paper mill level. Members interested in adding new information to the database must ask the PREPS Secretariat, and PREPS will contact the mills directly and ask for technical specifications and forest source information. The information is organized by paper grades and mills. Paper grades are graded according to a PREPS Grading System based on the recycled content of the paper, whether or not is certified, whether or not the source or origin is known and if there are risks associated with that origin. The Grading System does not account for CO2 emissions or water consumption.
Geographical Areas of Interest
Global
Supply Chain Focus
Forest production
Processing/Manufacturing
Related CHapters
Contact Details
Publisher’s database for Responsible Environmental Paper Sourcing (PREPS)
info@prepsgroup.com http://prepsgroup.com/home.phpxTraceability
Paper and Forest Sources grading includes adherence to certification and labeling schemes, including FSC and PEFC.
Information Accuracy
Accepts FSC and PEFC as guarantee that wood and wood products certified under these systems come from verifiable legal origin. Paper samples are also tested based on the trans-shipment risk of the country where it is manufactured. The PREPS Grading System also recognize paper that is certified by another recognized certification scheme, or if comes from a low to high risk source (accounts for lower scores).
Legality
Requires that wood comes from verifiable legal forest management, initially as verified by FSC and PEFC.
SFM
Accepts FSC and PEFC as a guarantee that wood comes from areas that are managed sustainably.
Unique Forest Values
Requires that wood does not comes from a low risk country, as defined by the Country Forest Risk Tool developed by PREPS, and does not originate from within a WWF-defined Ecoregion. The Forest Risk Tool has three separate stages 1) Country risk assessment (assesses the risk of illegal logging, conversion, and the rate of forest loss occurring within a particular country) 2) Specific Eco-Region assessment (includes the WWF list terrestrial eco-regions to determine particular areas with high conservation value) 3) Importing country risk assessment (looks at whether a country imports a significant amount of wood from those countries listed as HIGH RISK in the initial Country Risk Assessment).
Fresh and Recycled Fiber
Includes information on the extent that paper is made from recycled material in PREPS Grading System.
Climate
Members track information on fossil fuel CO2 emissions by paper mills based on direct reporting from paper mills; however, this information is not a factor in the PREPS Grading System.