With more than two decades of PEFC Chain of Custody certification, The Encore Group is one of the UK’s most established providers in the packaging and envelope sectors, supplying bespoke packaging solutions along with high-volume transactional mail and direct mail campaigns.
Certified Products and Customer Demand
Operating in a competitive market where sustainability expectations are high, The Encore Group has viewed responsible sourcing as a long-standing and valuable business approach.
“Customer demand was the driving factor to our PEFC certification,” says Group Compliance Manager, Laura Johnson. “We can offer certified material and Chain of Custody to our customers, which in turn helps them meet their sustainability goals. This certification option was an additional but necessary step for us. The added value it brings was determined to be worth pursuing and to maintaining long term.”
For The Encore Group, PEFC-certified paper is mostly used across their envelope division, where it plays a significant role in its ‘transactional mail’ output. “We produce tens of millions of envelopes for this purpose,” adds Laura. “With a large percentage being requested as PEFC-certified material.”
Embedding PEFC into the Supply Chain
Having used certified material for decades it is now standard practice for The Encore Group’s envelope division and is also becoming more common in the packaging side. All those involved in the Chain of Custody management within the organisation are fully trained and receive annual refresher training on the process and its obligations. This also supports Encore’s broader business drive to reduce its environmental impact.
“It is part of our sustainability strategy,” says Laura. “But we’re also a bespoke service provider and are largely dictated to by our customers. We can advise and offer sustainable solutions, but the final decision on material use is with our client. We can influence this to some extent through technical knowledge, but most importantly it’s through our supply chain, working with like-minded suppliers to offer our customers certified material at the best value.”
PEFC certification sits alongside broader best practice in responsible sourcing and recyclability, with the majority of Encore’s material purchased as certified in some way and all paper certified as standard. “All of our reels are PEFC-certified,” says Laura. “With all of our products being 100% recyclable.”
Supporting Customer ESG Goals
Crucially, PEFC certification provides assurance around legal and responsible sourcing, but also helps businesses meet their own company-led sustainability goals and ESG reporting requirements.
“PEFC is a reliable certification showing that the raw materials are from a sustainable source and offer reassurance and guarantees,” says Laura. “Some customers have purchasing policies whereby all their paper-based products must be certified material. Hopefully we will see more of this within packaging which will then filter into customers own ESG reporting, as it would be an ideal policy to have – as we do at The Encore Group.”
Transparency and Chain of Custody
Material traceability is managed through the clear, structured PEFC Chain of Custody process covering procurement, production and delivery with all relevant product line claims and certification details on delivery notes and associated documentation. This ensures transparency and is an integral aspect of sustainability compliance and a responsible procurement process.
Looking ahead, across the packaging sector there is a continued momentum to reduce plastic and introduce more fibre-based alternatives. With the EUDR’s introduction at the end of 2026 focusing minds on where raw materials are coming from, The Encore Group reports they are fully prepared for its impact. PEFC is leading the way in reducing environmental risk and will be working hard in 2026 to further facilitate an increase in the availability of more PEFC-certified packaging and paper materials for one of the UK’s most important markets for forests products.
