This is what we do to take responsibility for the forest.

Transcription

1 This is what we do to take responsibility for the forest

2 2 We love wood! text UN has declared 2011 the International Year of Forests to celebrate people s action to sustainably manage the world s forests. In this spirit, we want to show our love for wood, and what we do to take responsibility for the forests. This material gives you an insight into how IKEA works with wood and sustainability. We want to create a better everyday life for more of the many people, with the least impact on the planet. CONTENTS Wood is the best building material 03 For the love of wood 04 Signed, sealed, delivered 05 A global partnership 06 Making a list, checking it twice 07 The wood detective 08 We love all parts of the tree 09 How to create more from less 10 What is the point of air in furniture? 12 Making the most of every tree 13 For Further Information: Madeleine Löwenborg-Frick, National Public Relations Manager, IKEA Canada T: x6378 madeleine.lowenborg-frick@ikea.com

3 3 Wood is the best building material We have been wood fans since the early 50s. To be honest back then it was for economical reasons more than environmental. Wood was a low cost and high quality material that was perfect in our flat pack furniture world. And since we hate wasting stuff, we love the fact that every piece of the wood can be put to good use, all the way down to the sawdust. Today, we know that wood is probably one of the best building materials in the world. And for the world. A tree is not only beautiful to look at, it absorbs CO 2, it stores the sun s energy in carbohydrates and releases oxygen. And wood is biodegradable, recyclable, highly sustainable and renewable. But it s also exciting, unpredictable and beautiful! DID YOU KNOW The most important wood species for IKEA are pine, spruce, birch and beech. The top five wood sourcing countries are Poland, Russia, China, Romania and Sweden. POÄNG armchair is made of birch wood, one the most used wood types in IKEA products. PE231544

4 4 For the love of wood Name: Carina Bengs Age: 47 Occupation: Designer Favourite wood: Pine Name: HEMNES Age: 2 Occupation: Chest Wood: Solid pine PE The designer Carina Bengs began working with wood at the age of four. Now she has been designing for IKEA for nearly 30 years and loves the fact that wood lives, ages and pleases customers. One of Carina s best-known products for IKEA was her contribution to the HEMNES range, timeless solid wooden furniture in a traditional Scandinavian style. A wood product changes appearance over time. Wood ages and wears beautifully. It feels natural, unlike a plastic or metal product, says Carina Bengs. Carina s grandfather was a carpenter, and wood was a natural choice. She had the opportunity to try out simple tools as early as four. Wood is in her genes and her favourite material. As a designer, she loves wood as it can be used in so many ways. It can be hard or soft, resistant, warm or cold. All sorts of qualities and shades. HEMNES is made of softwood you can see from a distance that its surface is alive. If we had used hardwood, it would have had a modern, harder look. It would have been a completely different product. Carina has been working and designing with wood for over 40 years, but she never tires of it. Wood represents quality, durability and cosiness. Each piece of board is different, making wood suitable for mass production. One piece of furniture will still be different from another. It s a confidence booster when you as a designer know the material, when you know what you can do in mass production. When you sense the limits and when you challenge the production staff to take new steps. You can always achieve another solution, provoke a little and see what you can produce.

5 5 Responsible forestry Name: Anders Hildeman Age: 54 Occupation: Forestry Manager Favourite wood: Rowan IKEA minimum requirements for timber Timber should not come from: Forests that have been illegally logged. Forestry operations involved in forest-related social conflicts. Uncertified Intact Natural Forests (INF) or High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF). Tropical and sub-tropical natural forests that are being converted into plantations or non-forest use. Officially recognised and geographically identified commercial genetically modified (GM) tree plantations. Anders Hildeman is responsible for ensuring that all the wood IKEA uses comes from an approved source. Each year IKEA uses 13 million cubic metres of timber for products, printed matter and packaging, which is equivalent to 325,000 fully loaded timber trucks. Bumper to bumper these would stretch from Älmhult to Seoul. With size comes responsibility. Since we re big and operate in many countries, we, through our demands, can influence the global timber trade in the countries where we source. In this way we can contribute to better forestry, says Anders Hildeman. All our suppliers are audited regularly. In 2010 supply chain audits showed that 97,1% of the wood meets the IKEA minimum requirements. For the remainder, corrective plans are implemented. Also, 24% comes from our preferred sources, forests verified as responsibly managed, meaning that the wood is certified according to the FSC - with the full supply chain independently audited. By 2012, we d like it to be 35%. It s an ambitious target because in many parts of the world, the availability of certified wood is limited. Sometimes we re asked why it s not more. This is due to availability. Today only around 5 per cent of the world s managed forest areas are FSC certified. IKEA s target is to have seven times more FSC timber in our range in two years time. It s a very ambitious target, says Anders Hildeman. Work is constantly in progress to improve the systems so that no illegally logged timber slips past. One safeguard that IKEA has is its own industrial group Swedwood, in which all units now are FSC certified. This provides control over a large part of the supply chain. But one thing is certain: an IKEA customer can feel completely confident that careful checks are carried out to ensure that the wood in your favourite piece of furniture does not come from deforested areas or has been illegally logged. Forests are our most important source of raw material. And sourcing responsibly means that we have availability of this raw material long-term. It also means that we meet our customer s expectations. They shouldn t even need to think about this.

6 6 A global partnership IKEA and WWF work together in a global partnership in order to strengthen and increase actions to improve environmental conditions. The co-operation, started in 2002, has so far contributed to increasing the FSC-certified forest area with millions of hectares in Russia, China, Bulgaria and Romania. The partnership has also resulted in identified forests with high conservation values and helped to improve forest legislation. We cooperate in projects in important wood sourcing regions such as Russia and China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. The main focus within these projects are to combat illegal logging, promote credible forest certification and responsible timber trade as well as to protect high conservation value forests. DID YOU KNOW IKEA is working together with WWF to increase the area of responsibly managed forests. IKEA was one of the companies that together with Greenpeace and WWF initiated and founded the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in 1993.

7 7 Making a list, checking it twice Each day the Polish responsible for ensuring that Nevertheless he is sawmill receives nearly good-quality logs are sawn. sometimes contacted by 50 truckloads of timber. So how does he know salesmen who can supply Every single wood chip that the timber used in prime quality at low prices. A comes from managed IKEA products comes from while back a salesman rang forests. I can practically managed forests? from Ukraine and said: I can see where each log was It s really quite simple, he supply anything, how much felled, says Łukasz says pointing to a plaque on do you need? Łukasz then Tymendorf, timber the office wall. asked the salesman for proof manager at Swedwood We re FSC certified, that the logs had passed a Wielbark. in other words, we re radioactivity test. approved by the independent The wrecked Chernobyl The little village of Wielbark international member nuclear power plant is is located in the heart of Poland. Swedwood s the organisation, the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC situated in Ukraine. The surrounding forests are Łukasz Tymendorf, timber manager at Swedwood Wielbark. industrial group s of IKEA promotes environmentally perfect for logging, but it s giant sawmill and production appropriate, socially prohibited to touch them. plant are also located there. beneficial and economically They re still radioactive. On average one truck arrives viable management of the Oh, you don t need proof, at the plant every fifteen world s forests. And I only said the salesman. Then we minutes, fully loaded with purchase timber from FSC don t need your timber, was pine logs that will eventually certified suppliers. Łukasz simple answer. be made into the HEMNES Łukasz has many suppliers range. Łukasz Tymendorf is yet only one: the Polish the timber manager at the state forest agency, divided plant and responsible as such into regions and districts. for the purchase, transport, reception and sawing of the logs. Consequently he is also In reality he has 48 subcontractors to negotiate with. Each driver arriving here has a receipt like this. The receipt lists each log on the truck with a number. The same number is then found on a small plastic label on the log. This means I can see exactly where the load comes from. I can practically drive out to the logging site and see where the tree stood.

8 8 The wood detective Tai Wen is one of the 16 We start the audit at the forest detectives working supplier by explaining the for IKEA. Her job is to visit purpose of our visit. Our job is remote areas in China to not only about checking, but trace the wood used in IKEA also about showing the supplier furniture or products to how to check the wood himself. ensure that it has not been The supplier tells us he has illegally or irresponsibly a problem. The IKEA timber logged. This is her own story traceability system, in which he of a week at work. reports the origin of the wood, has told him that the wood The week starts off with an he wants to purchase comes important meeting with WWF. So far, the IKEA and WWF partnership has contributed to that over one million hectares of forest have been FSC certified in China. The following day we leave the city behind us. The availability of timber in some of China s north-eastern natural forests has been declining for some time. To turn this around, we need to work continuously with local organisations to increase the number of responsibly managed forests and make sure all the wood used in our products meets our minimum requirements. from a region where there are animals and/or trees that are valuable to the ecosystem. I advise him to purchase the wood from somewhere else. When we get back to Qingdao I meet with the purchaser at IKEA. I explain to her the problem the supplier brought up. She says she cannot buy the products if the wood comes from that area, but promises to contact our wood supply team to see if there are any other areas that are a suitable alternative for the supplier. Name: Tai Wen Age: 29 Occupation: Forestry specialist Favourite wood: Oak 16 FORESTRY SPECIALISTS IKEA has 16 employed forestry specialists. Their most important tasks are to confirm the origin of the wood, to secure that it meets our minimum requirements and to increase the amount of wood from responsibly managed forests. The IKEA forestry organisation was established in 1998 and its activities today span 48 countries.

9 9 We love all parts of the tree Name: Johan Ejdemo Age: 41 Occupation: Material and Technical Development Manager Favourite wood: Pine DID YOU KNOW Nearly two-thirds of IKEA products are made of wood. Production waste is minimised efficiently, by constantly investing in new materials and production methods. Nearly two-thirds of IKEA products contain wood. Johan Ejdemo is responsible for ensuring that the material is used responsibly at the best possible prices. Wood is a fantastic construction material. You can use everything from fibre to solid pieces. It can be shaped and bent and its annual rings can tell you how it has lived and grown. Johan Ejdemo s job includes ensuring that IKEA customers can buy good wood products at good prices thanks to the constant technical development at IKEA. We re a company that uses all the parts of the tree. Often it s not the best parts that make the most fantastic products, but those that require the most love in the making, says Johan. The furniture industry is relatively conservative. Rules have simply developed for what is beautiful or ugly, good or bad. IKEA always challenges these rules and often chooses parts whose beauty has not been recognised. For example, IKEA uses the red heartwood of the birch tree, while other producers may think that this material is Pine. only good enough for pulp. NORDEN table is made of birch tree crowns previously ground into wood chips. Technical inventions pave way for other ways of saving resources. One technology is Board on Frame, a chipboard frame covered with thin fibreboard and filled with paper spacing material, or just air. Filling the whole product with solid material is wasteful and a misuse of materials. In addition, we can make furniture with thick boards, which it would not be defensible to make from solid woodbased boards. Today production waste is minimised efficiently. But IKEA is constantly investing in new materials and production methods so as to use even less in the future, at lower prices. Wood will always be contemporary. It may be more or less trendy, and different woods may be more or less attractive at different times. But man will always have a need for nature.

10 10 PE How to create more from less Products cannot be made without raw the range being wood-based, we are materials. The more we consume, continuously looking at how to create more the more raw materials we need. It is from less with for example lightweight and therefore important to use materials in resource-efficient construction. a smart way, a way that is good for both By working very closely together with people and the environment. In the case the industry, we can find solutions and of IKEA, this means using more renewable, improvements that will use less material recyclable or recycled materials. and reduce the weight, but where the look With 60% of the purchase value on and feel of the surface will stay the same as with solid material. To use solid wood would in many instances not only be too expensive but it would also use up too much material resources and the weight would be too heavy for transport. A few years ago, we were able to make 13 STUVA storage boxes from the wood of one tree. Today one tree is enough for 23 STUVA storage boxes. How did we do it? We replaced some wood with air.

11 11 NORDEN dining table is a good example of how to create more from less. Introduced in 1998, it was probably the first time anyone had thought of making furniture also from the knotty top part of the birch tree instead of burning it as firewood or grinding it for chipboard production. PE128442

12 12 What is the point of air in furniture? Get as much as possible from every tree. The lighter the furniture, the more can be loaded on the pallets without them being too heavy to handle. It also saves resources. Although timber comes from forests which regenerate, resources are used in transporting the timber to the factory. Lighter boxes are easier for customers to take home. EXPEDIT is manufactured using Board on Frame technology. PE236423

13 13 Making the most of every tree Wood is the most important raw material for IKEA and it is used in many of our products, even if you cannot always see it. And we hate to waste resources. Have a look at these products, all made with new technologies, to make the most of every tree. 1. STUVA products are manufactured using Board on Stiles technology. 2. The LACK product range is manufactured using Board on Frame technology. 3. EXPEDIT shelf, made with Board on Frame technology. 4. BESTÅ product range is manufactured using Board on Stiles technology. 5. MICKE desk, made with Board on Frame technology. PE PE PE PE PE

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