Why Certify Wood Products?
Markets -- Opportunities and Challenges
Walmart’s ‘Wood and Paper Network’ focuses on bringing to their customers products made from sustainably harvested trees at an affordable price. Walmart’s goal? “Eliminate wood from our supply chain that comes from unwanted sources by 2013.”1 To meet that goal Walmart has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund’s Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) to eliminate illegal logging and improve the management of valuable and threatened forests.
Worldwide, consumers are increasingly making ‘green’ choices about the way they live and the products they buy and use. The National Geographic Society 2010 Greendex Survey found that “environmentally friendly behavior among consumers in 10 out of 17 countries has increased over the past year” and that such environmentally friendly consumer behavior “has now increased from 2008 levels in all but one of the 14 countries polled in both 2008 and 2010”4. The survey indicates that the frequency of such behaviours is advancing most rapidly in developing markets such as India, Brazil and China.
For Walmart, third party certification by one of several recognised programs is a key element in their internal processes to assure that wood used in any product they sell does not originate from an ‘unwanted source’. If the wood products your company produces are sold into a supply chain serving Walmart – even if your company is several links back in the chain -- the ultimate vendor will be subject to a supplier assessment and wood purchasing policy that will pose the question “have you obtained third party certifications for any of the products that you sell to Walmart”?2 Companies that cannot meet that standard will not be part of the Walmart supplier network.
Source: Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2010-2011
FSC Certified Furniture
Source http://walmartstores.com/Sustainability/9172.aspx
In construction, building products manufacturers are increasingly being required to supply ‘green’ building products, often to meet standards specified in such programs as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) and Green Globes™. Wood products acceptable to these standards require certification as having been sourced from sustainably managed forests. Similarly, major building products distribution and retail chains such The Home Depot, explicitly state in their purchasing policies that they will “give preference to the purchase of wood and wood products originating from certified well managed forests wherever feasible”3.
As a ‘natural’ and naturally renewable substance, wood products are well positioned to take advantage of this shift in consumer behaviour across a wide range of applications. Forest certification provides customers with independent assurance that the original material is harvested in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner, and chain-of-custody certification provides similar assurance that these standards have not been compromised during the processing, manufacturing and distribution steps in the value chain from the forest to the end user. Examples abound of wood products manufacturers that have gained competitive and market advantage through certification. One example from nearby upstate New York is Adirondack Hardwoods, which offers quality hardwood products, including green-certified lumber, plywood, and flooring. They also operate Saranac Hollow Woodworking, focused on the design and production of custom furniture, casework, millwork, and historic reproductions. The company supplies green-certified wood products using raw materials from managed forests that meet the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and has experienced increased interest in, and sales of, certified wood products5.