The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes is delighted to announce that this year the world's largest global certification scheme will celebrate its 10-year anniversary in the UK.

Since PEFC established itself in the UK the chain of custody certificate numbers has continued to grow, with PEFC UK having the second highest number of chain of custody certificates within the PEFC family, with over 1,300 issued to date, with PEFC UK accounting for almost 20% of the global total.

At the same time, in March of this year, PEFC also announced that some one million hectares of UK forests have been awarded PEFC Forest Management certification, which includes all Forestry Commission forests in England, Scotland and Wales, and some 500 privately owned forest estates, including a number in Northern Ireland, managed through the Scottish Woodlands and UPM Tilhill forest group certification schemes.

With the majority of the UK's leading paper merchants now able to offer a range of PEFC certified papers, it is no wonder that now almost 500 printers have been awarded PEFC chain of custody certification. PEFC recently re-launched its UK website and it now includes a database of certified printers and the range of service they offer – www.pefc.co.uk. This has proved to be very popular with visitors to the site demonstrating increasing print buyer interest in providing assurances to their customers of sustainable sourcing.

As a result, more and more publishers and brand owners are now opting to use the PEFC logo on their publications as an assurance of responsible paper sourcing.

Demand for the PEFC logo continues to grow, and this year alone has seen the PEFC becoming ever more visible, as trusted household names such as Argos, Boden, British Airways, First Choice, Matalan, National Westminster, John Lewis, Debenhams, Tesco, Asda, Nectar, Airmiles, Lakeland and most recently The Economist and The Big Issue have both used the PEFC logo on their customer-facing publications.

Elsewhere PEFC has been ever more visible at trade shows such as Ecobuild and Paperworld 2010, MediaPro 2009 and Publishing Expo 2010 along with Ipex 2010, the global trade show for the graphic arts industry which was held at the NEC in Birmingham in May.