Marking a significant development in the wood panel industry in India, Greenply Industries, one of India’s largest interior infrastructure brands with over 30 years of experience in manufacturing a comprehensive range of plywood, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), block boards, decorative veneers, flush doors, and other allied products, announced that its state-of-the-art MDF unit at Vadodara, Gujarat has achieved the prestigious Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Management (FSC-FM) certification, setting an industry milestone as the first MDF facility in India to attain this certification. Greenply has also attained the FSC – FM (Forest Management) Certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for its sustainable plantation unit located in Tizit, Nagaland in the year 2021.Greenply’s MDF Plant at Vadodara, Gujarat has met all of the necessary qualifications to be certified as a ‘Well-Managed Plantation’ in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council’s Principles & Criteria, as elaborated by the SCS Final Interim Standard for Forest Management Certification in India under the Forest Stewardship Council. The certification has been granted for the plantations of namely, Eucalyptus camaldulensis; Leuceana leucochepala; Dentrocalamus strictus, Bambusa arundinacea and Melia dubia.The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organisation that encourages accountable forest management and sustainable practices. The FSC-FM certification provides a set of standards and criteria that cover an array of ecological, communal, and economic aspects of forest management. To achieve FSC-FM certification, forest management actions must undertake a challenging assessment by autonomous certification bodies on compliance with the FSC standards and determine whether the forest management practices are environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable. The FSC-FM certification tag on a product specifies to customers that the product comes from a sensibly managed forest.Speaking about this achievement, Sanidhya Mittal, Joint Managing Director, Greenply Industries said, “The FSC-FM certification signifies Greenply's allegiance to sustainable practices and sensible sourcing of raw materials. It ensures that the material used in the manufacturing process at our MDF plant comes from our responsibly managed plantations. The FSC-FM certification serves as a testimony to Greenply's commitment to reducing its environmental footprint and contributing to a greener future in the interior infrastructure industry.”The MDF industry is expected to grow rapidly due to its versatile application and this facility at Vadodara will help Greenply to meet that demand. The company has collaborated with global technology leader Siempelkamp Germany, for utilising the state-of-the-art PRODIQ-NEO technology in the manufacturing process at the MDF plant. The technology utilises Artificial Intelligence to analyse myriad microfibers to deliver each board with utmost precision thereby guaranteeing the finest product quality and durability. Greenply has plans to produce all products subcategories of MDF including thin and thick, pre-lam and other value-added products in a phased manner.Led by a sustainability-oriented approach, Greenply has been undertaking extensive plantation activities over the past several decades leading to responsible procurement of raw materials. Besides environmental protection, the plantation activity helps maintain the financial viability of the ecosystem as it generates employment for the local inhabitants too. Greenply has planted around 24.85 million saplings till March 31, 2023, covering an area nearly of 31,714 acres of plantation land and pledges to take this number to 50 million by 2025. The company plans to plant these saplings across the states of Gujarat, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It is noteworthy to mention here that Greenply is also the pioneer in the wood panel industry to release its maiden ESG report for FY22 recently.