Marks & Spencer has accepted criticism by Greenpeace that it cannot prove wood used in its garden furniture has come from sustainable sources.
M&S is one of several companies named in a Greenpeace report, which accuses them of contributing to rainforest destruction and the extinction of rare species, by selling furniture made of wood from endangered areas. The allegations also featured in a major report in The Independent.
Asda, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer fill the bottom three places in Greenpeace’s list of garden furniture retailers who, according to the environmental group, do not offer products that have been credibly verified as legal and sustainably managed.
An M&S spokesperson said the company accepted the criticism and had already terminated the contract of the supplier, which provided nyatoh and teak furniture from Indonesia, China and Vietnam.
“We’re committed to identifying sources of wood used in our business and removing cases of bad practice involving illegal logging and destruction of old-growth forests among suppliers.”
Asda said that, after talking with the supplier identified by Greenpeace, it had found that the source of timber was not Vietnamese plantations, as it had been led to believe.
A spokesperson said: “We thanked Greenpeace for bringing this issue to our attention, and have robust measures in place to ensure it cannot happen again.”
The Timber Trade Federation‘s responsible purchasing policy consultant Dr Penny Bienz said: “I am very surprised that in this day and age large publicly limited companies are still not checking their timber supplies.”
