MILAN, ITALY—FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), the authoritative international organization committed to the protection of forests and plantations, organized the first edition of the Italy Furniture Awards program, a competition that rewards furniture companies committed to sustainability.
Arper has received the Special Environmental Sustainability Award within the program, an important recognition of the environmental path that the company has been following for years.
The FSC Italy Furniture Awards celebrate Italian companies that choose to use wood coming from forests or plantations managed in compliance with strict social and economic environmental standards. The aim of the initiative is to shed light on the origin of wood as a raw material, and encourage architects, designers and industries to design and produce FSC-certified wooden items.
To select the winner for the Special Environmental Sustainability Award, judges took into consideration the nominated companies’ environmental commitment, particularly evaluating the practices verified through the hold of third-party certifications (such as ISO14000, ISO 5001, SA8000, ISO9000, etc.).
FSC issued the below statement when it explained the reason they chose to award Arper in this particular category: “The award is given to a company that has particularly distinguished itself in terms of sustainable development thanks to a growing commitment over time, increasingly integrating sustainability into its production and design processes. In addition to having obtained the FSC certification, it is the first company in Italy and the second in Europe to have obtained the “EPD environmental process certification” for the product category Seating and Furnishings, based on the Swedish certification system. These actions have enabled the company to improve its environmental impact also through the partial use of recycled materials in the products produced. Finally, the company has demonstrated a strong commitment in the field of ‘Research and Development’, particularly focusing on the use of alternative polymeric materials of bio and/or recycled resources, in order to limit the production of plastic from fossil sources.”
