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Packed naturally.
Whoever uses GSD paper not only keeps our planet clean. They now also invest in the regenerative management of forests with our packaging certified by FSC.
And thus in our common future.
Choosing GSD paper packaging nowadays not only means making a very conscious choice for contemporary aesthetics, it is likewise a commitment towards environmental compatibility and regeneration.
Quite rightly so.
At present, around 100 million tons of plastic are produced throughout the world each year. According to the Handelsblatt, around 41 per cent of this is processed in Europe as plastic packaging. Sooner or late, the majority of this ends up – via rivers or thrown directly overboard from ships - as waste in the oceans. Last year it was 20,000 tons in the North Sea alone. It often takes decades before plastic waste is finally worn down. Plastic packaging can "survive" for up to 500 years until it is lastly decomposed by oxidation und UV rays.
Paper is returned to the cycle of life, plastic is leftover
The consequence: Giant, dense carpets of waste nowadays drift over the high seas. Alone the massive slick that presently covers the surface of the water between Hawaii and the American mainland is as large as Central Europe and, according to "Geo" Magazine, weighs around three million tons. A United Nations study found that up to 18,000 plastic parts currently float on every square kilometre of the world's oceans. The wind and waves frequently wear down these parts into microplastic, tiny threads, often thinner than a human hair, which researchers have found in large quantities in the water and washed up on beaches.
It is both ugly and frightening.
But above all such waste is deadly for hundreds of animal species and thus for the complete ecosystem. Many sea mammals become entangled in plastic waste and suffocate, others mistakenly assume that small bits of plastic packaging are food. The environmental organisation Greenpeace estimates that more than one million sea birds and 100,000 sea mammals and turtles die each year from residues of plastic waste. Some 97 per cent of Northern fulmars carry around 0.31 grams of plastic waste in their stomachs. In human terms, that corresponds to the size of a lunch box – full of sharp-edged plastic residues. Two of every five Layson albatross chicks on Hawaii die because their bellies are filled – with plastic. And ever more of the smallest sea creatures mistake poisonous plastic particles which cannot be decomposed in water for food. The poison is absorbed in their bodies. Poisons which are passed along the food chain until they finally reach humans.
There are alternatives to plastic
According to BUND, the association for the protection of the environment and nature in Germany, at least 40 per cent of plastic packaging could be dispensed with immediately, without any great effort or expense. If only for this reason, using packaging made of paper is a contribution towards the regenerative existence of our environment. And towards our own health. Paper is decomposable, it disintegrates naturally in just a matter of weeks and is finally returned to the endless cycle of life. Packaging made of paper and cardboard additionally make up the largest recycling systems: An average of 93 per cent of such packaging is recycled. The remaining seven per cent anyway comes from a natural, regenerative raw material - wood.
Paper from sustainable forests
Despite all these good reasons in favour of paper and the environment, we go one step further with our GSD packaging: We have voluntarily decided to use wood and products made of wood which are harvested from regenerative forests.
For us, regenerative means that forests are managed not contrary to but in harmony with nature. This includes only taking as much wood from a forest as can grow again in a natural way, so that the living space for insects and animals remains intact. And also that the natural state of the forest is retained – from its mixed stock of trees through to its age structure. Avoiding the use of pesticides, biocides or fertilisers, encouraging diversity and observing the traditional rights of use of local inhabitants are self-evident maxims for us.
Actions speak louder than words, transparency and openness are the proof
In order to ensure that our high standards are not just pie in the sky and that these are observed, from harvesting the wood through to processing in our works, we arrange for ourselves to be audited regularly by independent third parties. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organisation founded in 1993 in the wake of the environmental summit in Rio de Janeiro. Its members are drawn from environmental and development associations, trade unions and representatives of the forestry and wood industry. The registered association FSC Arbeitsgruppe Deutschland e.V. is supported by reputable traders, such as Obi, Neckermann, Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte AG and Otto Versand.
FSC issues certificates for wood and products made of wood which originate from regenerative forests. To this end, the organisation has laid down a strict catalogue consisting of ten binding principles and 56 criteria for good forestry management. Compliance with these requirements by companies is constantly monitored by independent certification organisations and reported back to FSC. One of these bodies is the GFA Consulting Group. It issued the FSC certificate for GSD packaging in January 2006 and granted us permission to use the FSC trademark on our products for the next five years – it goes without saying that we will continue to be monitored over this long period of time.
This was particularly pleasing news for us. The philosophy we have followed for so long has now been officially recognised: Using paper to conserve our environment. And also being able to offer our customers the chance to do so, with GSD packaging, in a manner that is as regenerative and natural as possible. Lastly, as a company based in one of the most densely wooded parts of Germany, our work not only promotes and preserves the natural surroundings, we live in its midst. Every day.
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