German DIY retailer Hornbach will waive, starting January 2017, the contract with the Austrian company Holzindustrie for the trade of timber and planed wood.
Hornbach announces in a press release quoted by Digi 24 that it wants for its suppliers “to respect the principles of responsible forestry”.
„We insist that our suppliers and business partners have to respect the principles of responsible forestry,” said the General Manager of Hornbach Romania, Mugurel-Horia Rusu, quoted by News.ro.
Hornbach makes sure that all the wood materials and products come from a sustainable forestry, mentions the press release sent by the retailer.
„We work closely with our suppliers to prove the origin of the wood and prevent the existence of wood products from illegal or uncertain sources in our assortment. Therefore, we were permanently in close dialogue with Schweighofer and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). We carefully watched the process of Schweighofer’s recertification and decided to stop collaborating with this company on the segment of timber and planed wood„, said Mugurel-Horia Rusu for News.ro.
Holzindustrie Schweighofer, the leader of timber export in Romania, has been at the centre of a series of charges in 2015 related to the way it operates in the country.
In July 2015, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests notified the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court following an inspection at Holzindustrie Schweighofer, after finding irregularities, including the suspicion about several companies that supplied wood from illegal logging.
The investigation of the ministry came shortly after the company has been accused that pressed for the new Forest Code to not come into force.
Moreover, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an NGO with offices in Washington DC and London, released in May 2015 a hidden camera video showing that the Austrian company Schweighofer-Holzindustrie, the largest wood processor in Romania (particularly resinous wood) is open to purchase illegally logged wood.
Representatives of the company have been recorded while promising bonuses for exceeding the quantity of wood delivered, even though they knew that this is only possible by breaking the law.
Urmărește-ne pe Google News
