managed forests.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19281/story.htmHome Depot hopes to use its purchasing power to encourage wood suppliers to follow good forestry practices, said Ron Jarvis, vice president of merchandising for lumber and building materials. "It's an important message to send," he said.
The retailer sells about $5 billion of wood products each year, accounting for about 9 percent of its annual revenues.
Since 1999, Home Depot has bought more certified wood products and reduced sales of lumber from areas with questionable forestry practices, it said in a report prepared for environmental and government groups.
The number of vendors providing Home Depot with products certified by an accrediting group, the Forest Stewardship Council, has grown to 40 in 2002 from five in 1999. The Atlanta-based company's purchases of such products soared to over $200 million last year from $20 million in 1999.
Moreover, Home Depot said, nearly all of the cedar it now buys comes from second-and third-generation forests instead of older forests that are most at risk of extinction. It has also cut purchases of Indonesian lauan wood by 70 percent, reflecting concerns about illegal logging in the Asian nation.