NCSI was at the mill and timber harvesting operations to ensure work practices continued to meet the standards required for Australian Forestry Standard (AFS), Chain of Custody (CoC) and Environmental Management System (EMS) certification.

SEFE has held the EMS certificate since 2004 and the AFS and CoC certificates since 2006 as a means to voluntarily show to its customers that its products meet stringent environmental standards.

NCSI client manager Ross Garsden said SEFE had shown commitment to meeting the rigorous standards in forestry, chain of custody and environmental management.

“Nearly a decade ago, South East Fibre Exports chose to be internationally recognised for meeting standards of environmental management and subsequently established certification with the Australian Forestry Standard for its own forest operations,” he said.

“In that time SEFE, its employees and contractors have maintained their commitment to certification and the continual improvement in environmental performance is clearly evident.

“It’s also important to point out that our findings show that timber coming into the chip mill is sourced from demonstrably sustainable management practices,” he said.

SEFE general manager Peter Mitchell said he was pleased with the result.

“These certificates don’t come out of Cornflake boxes,” he said.

“It’s an expensive and thorough process where we lay bare our whole operation to scrutiny from an independent auditor and they have been quick to point out where we’ve needed to improve in the past.

“But we’re happy to do that because it proves our commitment to environmentally sustainable management, which gives peace of mind to the people who buy the numerous paper products created from our wood chips.”