Sep 09, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Sonoco announced it has received chain-of-custody certifications from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as well as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). The certifications, which recognize 13 Sonoco recycled paperboard mills and two recycled rigid paper container plants in the United States and Canada, provide formal validation for the Company's sustainable fiber sourcing practices and its overall commitment to environmental stewardship. Chain-of-custody certification means a company has a tracking system in place that records the possession and transfer of wood fiber from its origin to its end use, including the manufacturing, production and processing stages. Sonoco now holds all three certifications recognized within the industry: the FSC (SW-COC-003307), SFI (Pwc-SFICOC-294) and PEFC (Pwc-PEFC-294). Sonoco utilizes nearly 100% recycled fiber consisting of mainly post-consumer sources. The Company uses approximately 1.9 million tons of reclaimed fiber annually, thus saving millions of trees and extending the life of available landfill space by removing the materials from the waste stream. Sonoco said that it began its program to achieve certification in July 2007. The process included internal mill audits, multi-site compliance audits and site surveillance audits. These audits were all completed by May 2008.