Need some help understanding environmental jargon? Different certification standards, and definitions can make purchasing decisions difficult. Click here to get a straight-forward explanation of some of the more common terms.

There are a lot of environmental certification standards in the marketplace and more appearing every year. Get an overview here. For more details on forest and paper certification standards, visit the Certified Forest Products Council.

Here are some of the leading certification standards that Frogfile references when sourcing products for our catalogue:

Environmental Choice/Canada (EcoLogo)
Canada’s federal certification program to help consumers identify products and services that are less harmful to the environment. Environmental Choice has more than 1400 approved products, with 119 licensees and 29 guidelines under which companies may be licensed and their products certified. You can find out more here

FSC International
Information about the Forest Stewardship Council, the FSC certification process, certifiers, and certified products. The FSC standards represent the world’s strongest system for guiding forest management toward sustainable outcomes. They are here.

Greenseal
This is an independent, US-based non-profit certification system for all product classes. It includes information on the product certification process and helpful fact sheets on recommended products. Find them at greenseal.org.

Trying to figure out how environmentally-friendly your copy paper is? These resources can help. If you still have questions, give us a call.

Responsible Purchasing Network - Responsible Purchasing Guide for Copy Paper
The RPN has put out a great document spelling out what you need to know before sourcing recycled paper. Get a copy here.

Conservatree
The pre-eminent source of information on recycled papers.  It is a comprehensive information source for what's really going on with recycled papers, as well as with tree-free and chlorine-free paper, including paper content specifications for different paper lines, how to source paper, and myths about recycled paper. Read more on their site.

Fiber Futures
Fiber Futures is a private/non-profit project that promotes innovative tree-free and recycled products. They perform market research, refine business plans, sponsor product showcases, convene educational forums, identify potential sources of capital, and locate markets for new products. It's well worth looking at further.

Markets Initiative
Markets Initiative works with Canadian companies to develop practical and economic ways to shift their wood and paper use away from ancient and endangered forest products to ecologically sound alternatives. Their site features a great deal of useful information.

Is your organization thinking about setting up a green purchasing policy? Then check out these resources. They can give you a great head start!

Institutional Purchasing Program: Green Purchasing Policies
The Center for a New American Dream provides a list of purchasing policies by jurisdiction, product category, environmental attributes, and type of policy. View their policy list

City of Vancouver’s Ethical Purchasing Policy
The text of the first and only ethical purchasing policy adopted by a municipality in Canada. Read the policy (PDF)

Environmental Purchasing Policies 101: An Overview of Current Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policies
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation and the North American Green Purchasing Initiative reviews more than 80 environmental purchasing policies from across North America to identify the most relevant policy components. Includes a recommended purchasing policy that incorporates their findings. Read the article (PDF)
“Policy Updates Inspire Environmental Purchasing.”

Government Procurement
Scot Case recommends successful strategies and policy elements to be included when developing or updating an environmental purchasing policy. Recommendations are based on a review of more than 80 purchasing policies within the USA. Read the article (PDF)
Seattle’s Sustainable Purchasing Policy

This resource includes information about this policy including its Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy, Buy-Recycled Program, Environmental Management Program, and Copernicus Project, which promotes analyzing and purchasing goods and services at ‘best total cost’. Learn more about the policy.