Meeting our certified companies – Lyreco Co. Limited
In the second interview of our series 'Meeting our certified companies' we hear from David Record, Managing Director of Lyreco in Thailand.
Meeting our certified companies – Lyreco Co. Limited
8 February 2021 Certification on the ground
Our latest interview partner in the series ‘Meeting our certified companies’ is David Record, Lyreco’s Managing Director in Thailand, who shares his thoughts on sustainable forest management and the growing awareness for sustainability.
Can you give us some insight into the work of Lyreco and its position in the market?
Lyreco is the European leader and the third largest distributor of workplace products and services in the world. The group directly operates in 25 countries in Europe and Asia and covers 17 additional markets on four continents through a network of distribution partners.
Lyreco’s 10,000 employees share a common mission: pioneering in delivering sustainably, which any workplace needs, so that its people can focus on what matters most.
How did you hear about PEFC?
Our customers often ask us for a wider range of sustainable and green products, and as part of our commitment and strategy towards sustainability, we are expanding our offer of these items.
We have identified PEFC as one of the leading certification systems in Europe and Asia. The products from one of our own brand suppliers are PEFC certified. Lyreco therefore decided to obtain and to support PEFC chain of custody certification.
What led you to choose PEFC certification?
One of our leading products, White A4 Office Paper, is a key product in most offices. We are aware that Thailand’s forest area has declined from 276,072 to 163,479 km2 in the last 50 years due to deforestation and improper forest management. That means we have lost an area of forest that can absorb 3,616 tons of carbon dioxide. To put this into perspective, it would take a person 8,606 years to exhale that amount of carbon dioxide.
To counter such devastating decline, we and our customers are constantly looking to source certified, sustainable paper products by improving our management and procurement criteria. PEFC provides us with one of the answers in Thailand, to be the pioneer in promoting sustainability when sourcing White A4 Office Paper.
How has PEFC certification benefited your company, and helped achieve your goals?
Lyreco seeks to be the pioneer in promoting the sourcing and supply of sustainable office products in the Thai market, and to encourage the wider availability of certified green products.
PEFC chain of custody certification has allowed Lyreco to create internal and external educational and communication programs around the importance of PEFC certification, thus generating more engagement from our customers who are increasingly asking for sustainability and green products.
The White A4 Office Paper with PEFC certification has proved to be extremely popular, with both Thai and international companies in Thailand. We can see where we have been able to educate our customers to understand more about the importance of selecting a green, certified product.
One day in the future, once the level of green awareness in our market is higher, we can be proud that we were a small part of the change that made this happen.