Wood Business

Features Forestry Management Harvesting
The Home Depot strengthens forestry protection

Oct. 26, 2017 - The Home Depot is increasing its protection of High Conservation Value Forests and tropical Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) by not accepting any wood products from The Amazon (South America) andCongo (Africa) Basins, unless Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

Although less than one per cent of the company's existing wood products come from the Amazon and Congo Basins, The Home Depot announced on Wednesday that it will require that any wood products coming from these areas be FSC certified. The company has given preference to FSC certified wood products since 1999. 

The company announced the updated policy in its 2017 Responsibility Report. The full report is located online.

The report also unveils newly strengthened chemical oversight practices in five product categories, including paint, carpet, vinyl and laminate flooring, and insulation. 

The chemical strategy includes commitments to increase the assortment of products that have transparency of product ingredients and third party certification of chemical ingredients. Additionally, the company is committed to working with suppliers to improve chemicals in categories with the greatest potential impact to indoor air quality, and will conduct annual reviews of product categories to track progress and drive innovation.  

The company partners with the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, Healthy Building Network and Cradle to Cradle for guidance on priority chemicals and innovations.

"We recognize the role we play in the value chain for home improvement products, especially lumber and manufactured goods," said Ron Jarvis, vice-president of environmental innovation. "We believe that better transparency is the key to retailers and consumers making better purchasing decisions that will improve our industry's long-term environmental impact."

October 26, 2017  By The Home Depot




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