Textiles, paper, wood & other materials
FSC and PEFC forest certification (chain of custody)
Two global schemes that certify sustainable forest management (FM) and the unbroken tracking of certified wood through the supply chain (chain of custody, CoC). Buyers of timber, plywood, pulp, paper, board and wooden packaging should see the claim – “FSC 100 %”, “FSC Mix” or “PEFC certified” – and the seller’s valid CoC code (e.g. FSC-C123456) on the invoice; the code can be checked in the FSC and PEFC databases. Certification alone is not sufficient for EUDR compliance but supports plot-level traceability data.
Grammage (g/m², GSM)
The weight in grams of one square metre of paper, board, fabric, nonwoven or film (ISO 536, ISO 3801). Typical values: newsprint 40–48, office paper 70–80, kraftliner and fluting 100–440 g/m²; T-shirt jersey 140–200 and denim 300–450 g/m²; a face-mask meltblown layer 20–25 g/m². Grammage drives price and strength directly but is not enough on its own: specifications should also include burst (Mullen), ring crush (RCT) and edge crush (ECT) for board, and tensile and pilling resistance for fabric.
Recovered paper grades (EN 643, OCC 11, ONP, SOP)
Recovered paper and board are classed under the European EN 643 list – e.g. 1.04 supermarket corrugated, 1.05 old corrugated containers – and in US and international trade under ISRI/ReMA codes: OCC 11 (old corrugated containers with kraft liners), DLK (double-lined kraft cuttings), ONP (old newspapers) and SOP/WL (white office paper). Besides fibre quality, price depends on moisture (usually 10–12 % maximum) and unwanted material – plastic, metal, wet-strength paper, known as outthrows and prohibitives. Import restrictions in China and elsewhere have tightened cleanliness standards.
Yarn count (Ne, Nm, tex, dtex, denier)
Measures of yarn fineness, in two systems. In indirect systems a higher number means a finer yarn: Ne for cotton (hanks of 840 yards per pound; Ne 30 is a typical T-shirt yarn) and Nm for wool (metres per gram). In direct systems a higher number means a coarser yarn: tex (grams per 1,000 m), dtex (per 10,000 m) and, for synthetic filament, denier (per 9,000 m – e.g. 150D/48F polyester DTY is 150 denier with 48 filaments). Twist, tenacity and evenness (Uster CV%) also define quality.