“We will make wood from well managed forests more competitive than wood from poor or unknown forests.” This is one of the bold statements in B&Q‘s Beyond 2000 – Revised Timber Buying Policy.

Hilary Thompson, social responsibility manager at B&Q, said the company is trying to build its green profile and communicate the message of certification with the customers. She thinks consumer understanding is growing, but slowly.

B&Q, the first member of the WWF 95+ Group, has recently joined the Tropical Forests Trust, which is helping with verification of its timber sources in Vietnam. Its decision to join the trust follows its concern about hardwood sources in the Far East.

“That’s where the certification process is taking longer and where we need to work hard to make sure the buying is sustainably managed.”

Over the next year B&Q’s certification work is focusing on hardwood used in its garden furniture range. It does not regard softwoods as having any potential issues in terms of sustainability and availability.

Hardwood flooring is something the company is looking to start selling this year. “At the moment we are trying to understand how the supply chain works,” said Ms Thompson.

She added: “This year we are reviewing our timber policy, looking at all of the global certification schemes. We are a great supporter of the FSC but if our research shows there are other schemes out there that have the same standards then yes, maybe we will recognise them.”

The store does recognise two national schemes, the Finnish Forestry Certification Scheme and the Indonesian LEI scheme, but no labels are used on products accredited to them. B&Q says to have more than one label does not reflect good customer service.

At Homebase, another founder member of the WWF95+ Group, the FSC is also the only certification label recognised.

The company’s environmental spokesperson Charles Drewe said 70% of all timber and wood products stocked come from FSC forests.

Like other big retail groups in direct contact with the end user, he said Homebase had to jump through “every single hoop” on green issues. And he reports signs of a “huge” increase in consumer awareness of FSC in the past few years.

Improving awareness

Homebase is working to improve awareness in-store and, by updating its website, to give more information on sustainable timber.

As far as other certification schemes go, the company believes there are some good national schemes under the PEFC umbrella but others need a “lot of work”. However, the PEFC logo is not being used on wood products as this is perceived as complicating Homebase’s environmental message.

Mr Drewe added: “If we get multi-labels coming through it is very confusing to the end consumer.”

He thinks the UK’s merchant trade is catching up with the DIY chains on certification. “The merchant trade is becoming more aware and it’s only a matter of time before the bulk of customers dealing with tradesmen will be asking this question on a more regular basis.”

Focus Wickes, the UK’s second largest DIY and gardening retailer and another WWF 95+ Group member, says it recognises the need to conserve the world’s forests. Indeed, it is the chief sponsor of the Barito Ulu project, an initiative in the Indonesian rainforest looking at how a natural tropical rainforest re-establishes itself after commercial logging.

Its suppliers must provide proof that sources of timber are known and well managed, preferably via FSC forest and chain of custody certification or equivalent.

The company’s main method of communicating the certification message to customers is via the FSC labelling scheme.