Interview with Julia Murray, B&Q UK

Timber policies

Julia Murray is a member of the B&Q UK Social Responsibility Team and her area of expertise is timber (B&Q is a UK home improvement retailer, owned by Kingfisher Plc.)  Julia works with the Commercial and Quality Assurance teams within B&Q to monitor timber and forest products coming into the business to ensure they meet the requirements of B&Q’s timber policy.  She is also responsible for reporting performance to the B&Q Board, the Kingfisher Board and the WWF UK Forest and Trade Network (FTN).  Julia has been the timber expert in the B&Q UK Social Responsibility Team for 3 years and has first-hand experience of the practicalities and challenges associated with implementing and adhering to a responsible timber policy.

What is B&Q’s timber policy and how aware are its customers of this issue?
The goal of our timber policy is to source timber and paper products from proven, well-managed forests or recycled materials.  Due to the increased awareness amongst consumers, heightened media attention and increasing Government policy on environmental and social issues we have seen a rise in queries on timber sold in our stores, from both retail and trade customers.  Such questions have included: Where does the timber come from in this product? What species was used? How was this product made?

There are so many certification schemes out there, which schemes do B&Q think are credible and why?
Like many others, we believe that Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification offers the best evidence that timber and forest products have come from a well-managed forest.  However, B&Q also works actively with the Tropical Forest Trust (TFT) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) scheme.  We consider FSC to be the most credible, as it is both a performance and system-based standard.  System standards specify the management systems that must be in place with an organisation to ensure it is managing quality, and environmental and social performance consistently. Performance standards specify the level of performance or results that must be achieved in a forest. The PEFC scheme is a system –based standard.  PEFC has also endorsed several global schemes such as the US Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI), Canadian Standard’s Association (CSA) and the Australian Forestry Standard scheme (AFS) to name a few, however, it is widely agreed that products certified by the European PEFC standard are the most credible.  At B&Q we also support the FSC Controlled Wood Standard.  FSC Controlled Wood is not the same as FSC certified wood that has met all the requirements of the FSC Principles and Criteria and is mainly used in FSC mixed source products to cover the uncertified portion in the mix.  The FSC Controlled Wood standard allows manufacturers and traders to avoid wood that has been: illegally harvested; harvested in violation of traditional or civil rights; harvested in forests in which high conservation values are threatened by management activities; harvested from areas being converted from forests and other wooded ecosystems to plantations of non-forest uses; and harvested from Forest Management Units in which genetically modified trees are planted.

What systems are in place to implement and monitor the timber policy?
Our QUEST system (Quality; Ethical; Environment; Safety in manufacture, use and disposal) monitors vendors’ performance.  Vendors are audited against ten principles, the first five of which cover quality and safety.  Principles six to ten cover environment policy, supply chain, packaging and integrity, which refer to issues such as timber, peat and labour standards.  Potential vendors are assessed through QUEST before they can supply us.  Existing vendors are audited once a year and are given a QUEST rating, but we engage with vendors on an ongoing basis to support them in continuous improvement and meeting the QUEST principles.

What are the challenges you have faced when implementing the timber policy?
Most of the challenges have arisen on the commercial side.   We have numerous stores across the UK; therefore meeting the requirements for volume is a challenge.  We also face the challenge of sourcing FSC certified material at a good price. We support our commercial team in meeting these challenges through the contacts we have at various membership organisations, such as WWF FTN, Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) and with FSC and PEFC.

Are employees bought into the goals of the timber policy?
We work very hard to make employees aware of the bigger picture i.e. the global situation and the reasons for our policy, particularly that we have a reputation to uphold in this area.  We hold Social Responsibility induction sessions that include face-to-face presentations and online training modules and these are also rolled out to employees in our stores.  We also work closely with the timber, joinery, kitchens and bathroom teams to raise awareness and provide guidance. 

What are your top tips for responsible timber sourcing?
1. Know your supply chain
2. Make sure you have evidence that is verifiable.  Be aware of the validity of Chain of Custody (CoC) certificates
3. Have confidence in what you are procuring and then selling on to customers

What are the next steps at B&Q and timber?
We will be focussing our efforts on the end of life of our products, looking at whether there is anything we can do to innovate in product design and to raise awareness and provide guidance to our customers on the disposal of our products.

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