FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)
The wood or paper comes from forests audited against the Forest Stewardship Council standard.
What it looks like
A tree whose trunk doubles as a tick mark, with the letters FSC beneath.
What it means
The three label variants say quite different things and the small print is the useful part. FSC 100% is entirely certified forest material; FSC Mix blends certified, recycled and controlled wood, with only the controlled portion being merely screened rather than certified; FSC Recycled is all reclaimed material and involves no forest audit at all. The mark covers forest management and chain of custody — it is not a claim about carbon, bleaching or the printing.
Defined by FSC-STD-50-001. Where a symbol differs between standards, the difference is described above rather than resolved — both versions are in circulation on real labels.
Other packaging and recycling symbols
| Symbol | Means |
|---|---|
| Mobius loop (chasing arrows) | The producer claims the item can be recycled — not that it will be, and not that your council collects it. |
| Mobius loop with a percentage | The pack contains that percentage of recycled material. |
| Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt) | The producer paid into a national packaging recovery scheme. It does not mean the pack is recyclable, recycled, or made of recycled material. |
| Tidyman | Dispose of this thoughtfully. It has nothing to do with recycling. |
| Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol | Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection. |
| Aluminium recycling (alu) | The item is aluminium and can be recycled as aluminium. |
| Recyclable steel | The item is steel — usually tinplate — and is separated magnetically for recycling. |
| Compostable seedling (EN 13432) | Certified to break down in an industrial composting facility — not in a home heap, a bin or the environment. |
| Home compostable | Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature. |
| PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) | The wood or paper is certified under a national forestry scheme that PEFC endorses. |
| OPRL — Recycle / Don't Recycle (UK) | Whether this specific component is collected by most UK councils. |
| Triman (France) | In France, this product or packaging is subject to sorting rules and must not go in the general waste. |
| Estimated sign (℮) | The quantity is an average across the batch, checked under the EU average-quantity system. |
Common questions
- What does the fsc (forest stewardship council) symbol mean?
- The wood or paper comes from forests audited against the Forest Stewardship Council standard.
- What does it look like?
- A tree whose trunk doubles as a tick mark, with the letters FSC beneath.
Related pages
- PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) The wood or paper is certified under a national forestry scheme that PEFC endorses.
- Mobius loop with a percentage The pack contains that percentage of recycled material.
- Mobius loop (chasing arrows) The producer claims the item can be recycled — not that it will be, and not that your council collects it.
- Mobius loop with a percentage The pack contains that percentage of recycled material.
- Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt) The producer paid into a national packaging recovery scheme. It does not mean the pack is recyclable, recycled, or made of recycled material.
- Tidyman Dispose of this thoughtfully. It has nothing to do with recycling.
- Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection.
- Aluminium recycling (alu) The item is aluminium and can be recycled as aluminium.
- Recyclable steel The item is steel — usually tinplate — and is separated magnetically for recycling.
- Compostable seedling (EN 13432) Certified to break down in an industrial composting facility — not in a home heap, a bin or the environment.
- Home compostable Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature.
- PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) The wood or paper is certified under a national forestry scheme that PEFC endorses.
Sources
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place