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Forest Stewardship Council®

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) is a global not-for-profit organization that sets the standard for responsibly managed forests world-wide, both environmentally and socially.

In 2004, Hemlock became the first FSC certified printer in the Pacific Northwest to embrace this gold standard chain-of-custody certification as the leading model for sustainable forest management. By closely tracking our use of FSC paper, these stocks now represent over 85% of our total paper purchases.

Environmental Benefits Statement

Post-consumer waste (PCW) paper contains fibres that have served their purpose as a consumer item and been redirected from the landfill. Using paper that contains PCW saves resources such as water, energy and trees and diverts solid waste from the landfill and GHG emissions from entering the atmosphere.

Hemlock creates customized Environmental Benefits Statements based on the percentage of PCW fibre in a print job, which can be used to clearly demonstrate your sustainable printing commitments.

Zero Carbon Neutral Printing Program

The lifecycle of paper—from forest to mill to transportation, production and recycling—emits greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at every stage. Hemlock’s unique ZERO Carbon Neutral Printing Program enables our clients to print carbon neutral. Learn more.

Ancient Forest Friendly™

The Ancient Forest Friendly™ designation and logo from Canopy represents the highest ecological qualities in the paper industry. Ancient Forest Friendly pulp and paper is free of ancient or endangered forest fiber, made with 100% recycled or agricultural fibre paper, and is whitened without chlorine.

Algae Ink™

Developed by the biomaterials company Living Ink, Algae Ink™ incorporates a carbon negative pigment derived from algae, making it a sustainable pigment alternative that goes beyond carbon neutral. By leveraging the carbon sequestering ability of fast-growing and renewable algae, Algae Ink™ has a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to traditional black ink

ZERO House Sheets

To further grow our ZERO Carbon Neutral Printing Program, we have expanded our line of automatically carbon neutral paper products. When you choose one of the three sheets below for your next litho print project, you can be sure that your print project is printed carbon neutral.

Mohawk Options PC 100

The direct emissions of manufacturing Mohawk Options PC 100 are offset exclusively for Hemlock through Mohawk’s contributions to the Darkwoods Forest Carbon Project, protecting over 55,000 hectares of Boreal forests in BC. It is an uncoated, FSC and Green-e certified, 100% post-consumer waste sheet and comes in Smooth and Vellum finishes.

Rolland Enviro

Integral to the ZERO program’s continued expansion is the addition of Rolland Enviro, a leading FSC and Ancient Forest Friendly certified 100% post-consumer waste paper. From recycled fiber sourcing to biogas energy supply to closed-loop water systems and hydrogen peroxide bleaching processes, Rolland’s recycled paper is one of the most environmentally sustainable in North America.

Lynx Opaque Ultra 30% Recycled

The latest paper to join the ZERO family, Domtar partnered with Hemlock to introduce Lynx Opaque Ultra 30% Recycled to the carbon neutral line-up. FSC certified and containing 30% post-consumer waste, Lynx Opaque Ultra comes in both sheets and rolls for an optimum range of suitable sizes.

Ancient and Endangered Forest Purchasing Policy

Hemlock has established a comprehensive Ancient and Endangered Forest Purchasing Policy which provides the guidelines to help us to continue to grow our use of FSC and Post-Consumer Waste papers, shift to grades that have a lower carbon footprint and ensure that all the paper we buy comes from sources that protect and preserve the ancient and endangered forests globally.

As part of our commitment to the conservation of the world’s ancient and endangered forest ecosystems, we strongly support the North American commercial scale development of pulp, paper and packaging alternatives that are derived from agricultural residues like wheat straw as a way to diversify the fibre basket and meet our continued need for high quality, cost effective products.

Post-Consumer Waste Paper

There is a direct connection between the sustainability of a paper and the amount of post-consumer waste content (ie. recycled content) within it. Paper with recycled content is made from the paper collected from residential, office, and commercial recycling programs. Recycling old paper into new paper minimizes solid waste, reduces the need to log trees, and recycles resources into new products instead of wasting them.

In short, the higher the percentage of post-consumer waste in paper, the lower the CO2 emissions, the more sustainable print projects are.

Forest Landscapes of Hope

Hemlock is conscious of the impacts of sourcing decisions on endangered species, high conservation value forests, communities and climate, in places like the Boreal and the Broadback Forest, Coastal Temperate Rainforests and Indonesian Rainforests. We are working closely with not-for-profit Canopy on policy implementation to ensure we carefully assess our fibre sourcing to avoid ancient and endangered forest regions. Learn more.