Five Steps to Sustainable Wood

Although we're proud of our great forests, Americans also chew through 27 percent of the wood commercially harvested worldwide. For those consumers who'd like to reduce that share, a little time spent weighing the eco-impact of that new dining table, say, is worth its weight in . . . well, wood. To aid your purchases, try our five-point plan:

1. Choose Products Bearing the FSC label

Leading environmental groups endorse just one label in the marketplace-that of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which certifies that the wood in a product has been sustainably produced. Key FSC principles include: the protection of forest watersheds, soil and indigenous species; restricted chemical use and limits on genetic engineering; local populations have influence over forestry operations; and fair-labor policies are upheld. Some FSC policies are being criticized. For instance, logging of old-growth trees is still allowable in some of its "well-managed" forests; the FSC also has reduced the minimum amount of certified-wood content from 70 percent to 30 percent for chip and fiber-board products carrying its label. About the latter, "The FSC was clear about the fact that standards were shifted to capture a bigger market," says Urvashi Rangan, who adds that the eco-labels project at Consumers Union (CU) still gives the FSC a generally favorable review. Verifying the "chain of custody" from tree to end user on more than 76 million acres in 56 countries is a huge undertaking. The FSC operates by accrediting individual certifiers: In the U.S., labels to look for are those of the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance and Scientific Certifications Systems (SCS).

Not-as-good:

The timber industry has developed a competing labeling program called the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). CU's eco-labels website notes that the SFI fails to meet some basic CU criteria, such as checks on conflict of interest, and "has no standard for chemical management -leaving that up to the individual foresters-and no definition of 'old growth,''' Rangan says.

2. Ask Stores to Carry FSC Wood

The FSC has the support of Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Fund and other environmental groups. "At this stage in the U.S., though, the only way the label will have any clout is if the consumer asks for it," says Scott Paul, forest campaign coordinator for Greenpeace in the U.S., noting that many retailers do not know what FSC is.

At least Home Depot knows: America's largest wood retailer vowed three years ago to check the eco-provenance of every wood product, in response to a consumer campaign led by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), ForestEthics and others. In a January 2003 report, the company, which sells over $5 billion worth of lumber, plywood, doors and windows a year, said it can now track over 9,000 such products back to their source, and that its sales of FSC-certified wood grew to $250 million in 2002, from $15 million in 1999. But we still have to ask for it. "If you walk into any given Home Depot store today, you may or may not find signage-or even product-with the FSC label," says Paul, who recently combed one Home Depot's aisles and came up with an FSC carpenter's pencil.

The next step:

"We'd like to see Home Depot apply pressure to its suppliers to green their operations," says Brant Olson, forest campaigner at RAN.

3. Opt for Recycled or Salvaged Wood

SmartWood's Rediscovered Wood Program certifies wood that would otherwise rot, get chipped up or be carted to a landfill. Sources include dilapidated buildings, "nuisance" or fallen trees on urban or suburban land and unproductive trees in orchards. Look for the "SmartWood Rediscovered" label on finished products from furniture to cutting boards.

"An old warehouse with one million board feet of reusable lumber can offset the need to harvest one thousand acres of forest, while yielding the kind of weathered beams and boards that homeowners prize," says Laura Terral, a SmartWood chain-of- custody specialist.

Salvage companies across America also report a hot demand for wood rescued from the wrecking ball.

Finally, antique and flea-market buffs can happily shop 'til they drop for vintage wood furniture, a time-honored recycled product.

4. Look for Wood Substitutes

Products made from alternative materials let trees stand, and some of them also use recycled post-consumer-waste plastic. Among natural materials, there's milled bamboo, from a renewable, fast-growing grass that's 12 percent harder than rock maple and installed just like a traditional hardwood floor. And, although conventional plywood offgasses formaldehyde, pressed-bamboo "plyboo" has been safety-tested, emitting .1 parts per million (ppm) of this toxin, well under the Environmental Protection Agency's threshold of 1.0 ppm.

5. Respect Campaigns in Support of Endangered Tree Species

After a campaign against buying Big Leaf Mahogany, which is illegally logged throughout the Amazon, Greenpeace and others won a victory in November 2002 when the tree was officially listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Now, notes Greenpeace's Paul, environmentalists are worried about "predatory" logging of the tropical hardwood lauan and the Pacific Northwest's yellow cedar. Boycotts may be necessary in some emergency situations, but "in general, whatever the species, if it has an FSC label on it, the consumer can have confidence that it's from a well-managed forest," says Paul. While most teak is now grown on plantations, he adds, a plantation that replaced a natural forest and was established after the year 1994 would not normally qualify for FSC certification.

In the end, at least we do have choices-such as a dining table that's either antique, FSC-certified or not made of wood at all-that forests can live with.

Resources

For CU's label ratings, go to www.ecolabels.org

Forest Stewardship Council: Go to certifiedwood.org; for a full list of certified products, go to www.smartwood.org

Scientific Certification Systems: go to www.scs1.com to find 400 certified companies

For reclaimed wood, check yellow pages under "Salvage," ask for salvaged wood at your lumber yard or go to www.recycle.net and click on "wood"

For 100 percent recycled plastic furniture: NorthWest Builders Network sells a picnic table (www.nwbuildnet.com, 888-810-8296).

MBP Technologies, Inc. sells outdoor benches and trash bins (www.mbptech.com, 413-789-0067)

For Bamboo: Go to www.environmentalhomecenter.com, 800-281-9785, or www.plyboo.com, 650-872-1184

For endangered wood species, see www.greenpeace.org and www.cites.org