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Creating A Sustainable Supply Chain

With the recent expansion of the Lacey Act in the US prohibiting the import of illegal wood products, a growing number of business leaders are beginning to recognise the potential benefits of FSC certification. Rick Hilton, SmartSource Manager, US & Canada, Rainforest Alliance shares how these green rewards can be reaped.

Over 50 percent of the wood content of furniture sold in the US is imported. With the recent expansion of the Lacey Act in the US prohibiting the import of illegal wood products, the furniture industry is increasingly concerned with illegal logging and environmental and social sensitivity. The “greening” of corporations worldwide has created a growing scepticism of sustainability claims and increased demand for transparency by consumers.

As a result of these mounting concerns, voluntary and mandatory policies, like the Lacey Act, have been developed to enforce change, and there’s been a growth of independent verification, certification and transparency for validating sustainability claims. The surge in “green purchasing,” “green-building” and market desire for more sustainable raw materials and products has prompted many companies to re-examine their purchasing decisions.
A growing number of business leaders recognise that their use of forest products and corresponding purchasing decisions have a significant impact on how well forests are managed at the source, and on public perceptions of the environmental and social performance of businesses. Getting a third-party certification lends credibility and traceability to your supply chain. We are seeing a growth in the number of companies looking to the Forest Stewardship Council-certified seal to green their sources.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), widely considered the gold standard of responsible forestry, awards certification to both forest management and companies along the supply chain. FSC-certified forests see economic, social and environmental benefits. Through responsible management, they see improved productivity, reduced costs, improved quality and better market access. FSC-certified forests have improved safety conditions and pay for workers and good relations with communities. The environmental impacts resonate well with consumers who are increasingly concerned with their footprint on Mother Nature.

The Rainforest Alliance, an international non-profit conservation organisation, works with businesses to establish responsible purchasing programmes aimed at improving the environmental and social aspects of companies’ supply bases. With the Rainforest Alliance’s help, companies like Jensen Leisure Furniture and IKEA are increasing their purchases of forest products sourced from certified forests and verifying that their sources come from legal origins.

Reaping The Rewards

Establishing and implementing responsible purchasing practices for wood and other furniture components gives your company a leadership position in conserving biodiversity and enhancing community well-being. Sourcing from FSC-certified suppliers provides excellent opportunities to demonstrate corporate social responsibility and strengthen customer and other stakeholder confidence in your products. Not only that, but demanding supplies from responsibly managed forests ensures that your wood supplies will continue to be there for years to come.

Taking The First Steps

When companies decide to work with the Rainforest Alliance, the latter designs and delivers workshops that focus on the implementation of internal purchasing and environmental policies including guidelines for assessing risk, maximising marketing potential and recommended steps toward sustainable purchasing practices.

Mapping their existing supply chains helps businesses understand the sources of their certified and non-certified wood and the risks and opportunities associated with each. The Rainforest Alliance helps companies create a preliminary sourcing review, which is the first step toward reducing costs, mitigating risks and†increasing the purchase of FSC-certified wood.

The main objective of examining manufacturers’ current supply chain is to develop a new purchasing programme and describe the baseline and metrics of measuring progress. Recognition can be given to their current approaches to more responsible purchasing, but data from the preliminary sourcing review and the realities of sourcing certified material can provide guidance for implementing practices that help to reach procurement goals.

Develop A Supply Chain-Specific Action Plan

The next step to responsible sourcing is to create a long-term (one to five years) action plan. This action plan should specifically address outreach to suppliers, key areas of improvement in the supply chain, and communications and marketing support.

Through this action plan, companies work to create a concrete plan for improving supply chain management. The preliminary sourcing review and the needs of companies direct our efforts. Activities can focus on working with the existing supply chain and on identifying alternative suppliers and products which may meet the needs of your company.

In order to increase sourcing of FSC-certified products first within their existing supply chain, companies should communicate its purchasing policy to all its current suppliers. The Rainforest Alliance helps with communication content and processes to educate existing suppliers on responsible sourcing and the new purchasing policy for forest products.

Training And Education

Creating an additional education and messaging programme about your responsible sourcing to help educate customers can also help to bolster your reputation among eco-conscious consumers. Public promotion of the “story”, or multiple stories, behind the product, also strengthens your company’s direct connection to forest sources – this can be externally beneficial and create positive, internal staff dynamics.

Training is essential to ensuring that a company’s headquarters and remote staff can apply and communicate responsible purchasing policies consistently. Communicating an FSC-certified forest’s environmental and social benefits to staff is particularly important in relaying the effect your purchasing decisions have on local communities and ecosystems, often in developing countries. A comprehensive training and awareness programme for staff (executive, procurement, sales, and marketing staff) and suppliers helps them understand and more effectively manage the transitions that sourcing responsibly entails. Proper training and involvement will help achieve the maximum benefits of sourcing responsibly, while minimising the anxiety sometimes associated with change.

Get Some Help

Involving a non-profit, third party with established credibility among environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will increase your communication opportunities and add validity to your initiatives. They can also help provide insight on non-traditional or lesser-known species of wood and sources for responsible alternatives. It’s important to stay in tune with non-governmental organization (NGO) activist campaigns, which may be related to the species and supply regions that your company uses.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rick Hilton, SmartSource Manager, US & Canada, Rainforest Alliance (rhilton@ra.org)
Rick provides day-to-day project management for Rainforest Alliance’s SmartSource clients throughout North America and ensures support for their suppliers throughout the world. He works with manufacturers, brokers and retailers that purchase forest products from domestic and international sources; assesses key features of their current supply chains; develops responsible purchasing policies to guide changes in purchasing practices; works with suppliers to improve forest management practices and move towards achieving FSC certification; and directs companies towards alternative, certified sources when appropriate.

The Rainforest Alliance, a non-profit international conservation organisation, helped establish the Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC) in October 2006. The Rainforest Alliance and Rick were recently at the Fall Furniture Market in High Point to promote an updated SmartGuide to Sustainable Furniture, its comprehensive listing of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood furniture manufacturers and suppliers in North America.