Making your house sustainable also means that all material used is from a sustainable source. All the timber and wood products we buy – from furniture to flooring to wallpaper – started life in a forest somewhere. Trees were cut down, processed and sold to you as a door, a kitchen worktop or garden decking. But not all wood comes from well-managed forests. So how can you be sure you’re choosing the right wood – wood that’s sustainably produced without causing harm to people or wildlife? A new report and short film from WWF shows you why, and how, to choose responsibly-sourced timber products.
The ‘What Wood You Choose?’ report shows that retailers in the UK often don’t know where their timber supplies have come from, which means they could be selling wood that’s been illegally or unsustainably logged from rainforests in countries like Indonesia or in the Congo Basin.
But we can all make a difference by making sure we choose wood that’s been responsibly harvested and processed. Look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo, which can be found on all sorts of forest products including charcoal and balloons! The FSC logo gives you assurance that it’s from well-managed forests and isn’t the result of illegal logging.
Information Updated on: 31 January 2012
