“Lowe’s is setting the global standard for responsible wood policy.” This was Michael Brune’s reaction to Lowe’s Companies, Inc.’s sweeping policy announcements last month. He is the Old Growth Campaign Director for Rainforest Action Network, the non-profit group that convinced Home Depot, Menard’s, HomeBase, Lanoga, and Wickes Lumber to stop selling products made from remaining old growth forests. He said, “The end of old growth logging may soon be within our grasp, thanks in part to leadership from Lowe’s.”
Lowe’s is the second largest U.S. home improvement retailer (the 15th largest U.S. retailer and 34th largest retailer worldwide) with over $4 billion in annual wood sales, and $15.9 billion in total sales for 1999. The company crafted its landmark lumber and wood product procurement policy in concert with environmental groups, scientists and suppliers. Mark Kauffman, Lowe’s senior vice president of Merchandising comments that some of these meetings represented the first time these groups were in the same room. “The result,” he says, “is a more balanced policy and what we hope will be a turning point for environmental discussions in the U.S.”
Its “Healthy Forests Advisory Board” consists of environmental groups, environmental scientists, suppliers, certifiers and buyer groups and will guide the company through its policy implementation process and provide counsel on general forestry issues. Currently, the group is addressing the conversion of Southern forests to pine plantations, commercial logging in U.S. National Forests and illegal logging in rainforests.
In an Environmental Policy that goes further than any company has gone to date, Lowe’s will aggressively phase out the purchase of wood products from endangered forests as these areas are identified and mapped. And it will proactively engage suppliers and governments to “take immediate steps towards the permanent protection of critical forest.” The company cancelled its contracts for ramin dowels from Indonesian tropical forests and replaced them with domestic poplar, has instituted an immediate ban on wood from the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia, has pledged to discourage conversion of native forests to plantations, and has expressed a strong preference for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, the most rigorous system in the world. Lowe’s will also promote efficient wood use and reuse, recycling and advanced framing techniques, and increase procurement of recycled, engineered and alternative products, including tree-free fibers.
Soon after this stunning announcement, 84 Lumber, the fifth largest U.S. home improvement retailer and one of the last to declare its position, announced they will phase out sales of products from endangered forests by the end of 2003. The company states that the overwhelming majority of its wood supply does not come from endangered areas, and claims to be an industry leader in selling engineered wood products that reduce consumption and waste of wood products.
Then, in early September, 16 Canadian companies, including Bell Canada, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Clairol Canada, and Citizens Bank of Canada, announced they would stop buying lumber and pulp forest products from ancient forests. Bell Canada’s letter to the Markets Initiative, the environmental non-profit consortium behind the effort, said, “it is our intention to favour those wood based product suppliers who have adopted sustainable practices which do not contribute to the destruction of irreplaceable natural treasures such as the ancients forests.” The companies also committed to replacing wood fiber with alternatives such as recycled and tree-free fibers and to reducing overall fiber consumption.
When it rains, it pours. In mid-September, Andersen Corporation, maker of Andersen windows and patio doors, announced it will not buy wood from endangered forests and it will give preference to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or equivalent certified wood supplies in the manufacture of its products. Kurt Heikkila, vice president, technology and business development, noted the company’s emphasis on using wood efficiently and reclaiming wood used in their manufacturing process. “All three must be practiced to assure the long term health of the world’s forests and the viability of wood as a valued natural resource.”
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