Here's a thing: Vietnam has been praised of late (since the mid-90s actually) for taking steps to protect its forests. Meanwhile its furniture industry has increased tenfold since 2000. It was worth a staggering $2.4bn last year.
So what is it making its wares out of? Is a recycling craze sweeping the country? Sadly not. Rather, Vietnam has become a bit of a dumping ground for timber from neighbours such as Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, much of it illegally logged.
This is according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which has been investigating how Vietnam has become the processing hub for illegally logged wood from all over the region. You can read its full report here.
What does that mean for you, and your garden furniture? Basically, buying any sort of hardwood that isn't second-hand is quite a fraught business, if you value protecting forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies wood from all over the world. If the product you buy is FSC certified, it follows it should be from a sustainable source. However, they can do very little to guard against logs which have crossed borders illegally and been labelled incorrectly.
Here's a guide I wrote for the paper last summer which details most woods, where they come from, and any possible alternatives. Rich-coloured hardwoods like mahogany, walnut and teak do look good, I know. But ask yourself this: do they look better in your living room or in a Sumatran forest, where they're busy contributing to vital biodiversity, not to mention counter-balancing growing CO2 emissions?
Mahogany is often used in garden furniture, and five species are now considered vulnerable or endangered. Environmentally-sound teak is almost impossible to come by. Burma is the only country that still exports teak from natural forests and human rights groups advise against buying from Burma, as the trade will support the military junta. Most walnut comes from Africa and could be implicated in "conflict timber", or the destruction of the Congo basin, home to 12 million people.
If in doubt, go second-hand. Call it vintage or antique if that makes you feel better.
Sophie's correct the use of the FSC certificate brings some governence to Asian hardwood but you've still got to deal with the co2 emmisions getting it here either in its raw state or as a finshed article
I make garden furntiture out of english oak and the carbon footprint report I had carried out on my business Sitting Spiritually confimed that my english oak had only 7% of the footprint of South East Asian hardwoods
So if you cant find what you want second hand try English Oak its just and durable and has a much clearer conscious
Posted by: Martin Young | Thursday, 20 March 2008 at 05:27 PM
Sophie, you have produced a fantastic post. Our garden centre gets our garden furniture (acacia, mahogany, oak, teak and pine) imported from China. I'm not 100% sure where these materials are sourced from in the world, but the hardwoods do come with 'FSC Approved' labelling.
But my question is, how far does the Forest Stewardship Council go to detect and cease the illegal fell and trading of such hardwoods - both in terms of morals and Governmental? I am forever doubtful of the work carried out in protecting such species of hardwoods. Over the past 30 years, the garden furniture industry has increased dramatically. Almost to a scale that one would not believe. This evidently means more forests are being destroyed - and I doubt the sales increase of garden furniture over recent years is isolated to the UK alone.
The majority of UK shoppers will buy the cheaper option in the supermarkets - it's the same with garden furniture. The carbon footprint of cheaper, imported varieties of hardwoods is much greater than that of Martin's English Oak. It seems to me that it is price fixing/price matching to blame.
Posted by: Grant Glendinning | Saturday, 22 March 2008 at 03:02 PM
I always buy antique, the furniture you can get from auction is in a way being re-cycled and in most cases cheaper and more elegant (not to mention stronger) than new, almost all my garden furniture is victorian.
Posted by: Mike Stall | Wednesday, 04 June 2008 at 11:19 AM
I just bought some garden deck chairs from a company called Deckchairs Online:
http://www.deckchairsuk.co.uk
All their furniture is made from solid hardwood from managed forests so is very environmentally friendly. This was one of the main reasons I bought from this site as I really wanted to make sure my new garden furniture was as green as possible.
Posted by: Jamie Thomas | Friday, 26 June 2009 at 12:54 PM
Jamie, how did you verify that it was from a "managed forest" and not simply duped? As far as i know i dont think anyone advertises garden furniture from the rain forest or unmanaged forests.........
Posted by: dale robinson | Sunday, 26 July 2009 at 07:03 AM
I've been looking for garden furniture over the last few weeks and found a website http://www.gardenoasis.co.uk which does have nice furniture, benches and sheds. I'm not 100% sure if this site is environmentally friendly.
Posted by: burns | Wednesday, 28 October 2009 at 04:24 PM
I will be out of the office starting 31/03/2009 and will not return until 01/05/2021.
I have left The Independent to go freelance. You can contact me on sophielouisemorris@gmail.com/07919 177559.
Please contact Ian Burrell for Media or Jamie Merrill on 020 7005 2719 for Features.
Write your own blog on Independent Minds
http://www.independent.co.uk/independentminds
http://www.independent.co.uk/
http://www.independentonlinesolutions.com/advertisingGuide/
http://www.nla.co.uk/
Please consider your environmental responsibility before printing this email.
Posted by: Sophie Morris | Wednesday, 28 October 2009 at 10:02 PM