Abitibi-Consolidated first registered under CSA Sustainable Forest Management Standard in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland - Add
October 27 2003 - 12:06PM
PR Newswire (US)
Abitibi-Consolidated first registered under CSA Sustainable Forest
Management Standard in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland -
Additional 4.2 Million Hectares to be Certified A (TSX) ABY (NYSE)
MONTREAL, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Abitibi-Consolidated
Inc. (TSX: A; NYSE: ABY) today announced that its Fort William,
Ontario Woodlands Division has received certification under the
Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Standard of the Canadian
Standards Association (CSA). The Fort William registration will
certify 800,000 hectares of public forestland in Ontario. CSA
certification is a voluntary process designed to demonstrate a
commitment to SFM and continual improvement in forest management
performance. The certification process requires that independent
experts audit the Company's performance against a set of objective
standards and procedures for sustainability, including a structured
public consultation and involvement process. The Quality Management
Institute (QMI) conducted Abitibi- Consolidated's third party
audits on the Fort William, Quebec-West and Newfoundland Woodlands
Divisions and recommended that each division's environmental
management system be registered under the CSA SFM Standard. The
Company's Quebec-West and Newfoundland Woodlands Divisions have
also been recommended by auditors for certification under the SFM
standard of the CSA, and the process of issuing the registration
certificates for these divisions is currently under way. The Fort
William, Quebec-West and Newfoundland certifications will add 4.2
million hectares to the existing 1.6 million hectares of
Abitibi-Consolidated forests already registered under the CSA
standard, for a total of 5.8 million hectares. "The certification
of these woodland divisions demonstrates Abitibi- Consolidated's
commitment to implement sustainable forest management standards in
all of the Company's North American facilities by the end of 2005,"
stated John Weaver, President and CEO of Abitibi-Consolidated.
"These results are a testimony that our forest management practices
are sustainable for the long run. Abitibi-Consolidated is proud of
its continued industry leadership in achieving third-party
certification." Abitibi-Consolidated was the first forest products
company to have been recommended for CSA SFM certification in
Quebec. The recommendation for the Newfoundland Woodlands Division
is also the first of its kind in the province of Newfoundland and
Labrador. Other previous certifications, such as that of the
Company's Fort Frances Woodland Division were also a first in
Ontario. Abitibi-Consolidated is the world's leading producer of
newsprint and value-added paper as well as a major producer of wood
products, generating sales of $5.1 billion in 2002. With 16,000
employees, the Company does business in more than 70 countries.
Responsible for the forest management of 18 million hectares,
Abitibi-Consolidated is committed to the sustainability of the
natural resources in its care. The Company is also the world's
largest recycler of newspapers and magazines, serving 17
metropolitan areas with more than 10,000 Paper Retriever(R)
collection points. Abitibi-Consolidated operates 27 paper mills, 21
sawmills, 3 remanufacturing facilities and 1 engineered wood
facility in Canada, the US, the UK, South Korea, China and
Thailand. DATASOURCE: ABITIBI-CONSOLIDATED INC. CONTACT: Investors:
Lorne Gorber, Manager, Investor Relations, (514) 394-2360, ; Media:
Marc Osborne, Manager, Corporate Communications and Media
Relations, (514) 394-2340,
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