Skip to content
  • (413) 834-4284
  • [email protected]
  • 21 Grinnell St, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Search
Close
Sprawl-busters
  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Books
    • Movies
    • Home Towns, Not Home Depot
    • The Case Against Sprawl
  • Victories
  • Blog
    • Share Your Battle
  • Contact
Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Books
    • Movies
    • Home Towns, Not Home Depot
    • The Case Against Sprawl
  • Victories
  • Blog
    • Share Your Battle
  • Contact
  • Uncategorized

Environmental Group Charges Wal-Mart With ‘Forest Crimes.’

  • Al Norman
  • December 13, 2007
  • No Comments

The world’s largest retailer, and the world’s largest cat are on a collision path. Last month, Wal-Mart released a 59 page “Sustainability” progress report, in which the company said “we want to provide our customers with the assurance that not only are they getting value and quality, but they are getting a product that was produced in a socially responsible manner.” But the retailer’s wood procurement policies are all bark, and no bite. Wal-Mart sells wood products ranging from furniture, to picture frames, candle holders, tooth picks and popsicle sticks. The typical Wal-Mart supercenter can carry more than 900 different wood products. Wal-Mart tells the public that “an area of forest the size of a football field is cleared every second. That’s 86,400 football fields a day. In tropical forests, it’s estimated that 50,000 species become extinct each year because of deforestation.” The retailer has a “Forest and Paper Network” that seeks to get its suppliers to convert to certified wood, and to give preference to suppliers who can verify the use of sustainably harvested wood fiber. But Wal-Mart’s Paper Network seems to be on paper only. “When we discover sustainable factory issues, we are committed to seeking alternatives,” the company says, “or even removing products from shelves.” Based on this pledge, the Simplicity corporation should expect a call any day now from Wal-Mart, pulling Simplicity’s wooden cribs from its shelves. An undercover study released this week by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a non-profit research agency, says that despite the company’s rhetoric about sustainable wood products, “Wal-Mart is turning a blind eye to illegal timber sources in its supply chain which threaten some of the world’s last great natural forests.” According to EIA, Wal-Mart does not ask its suppliers where their wood comes from, and the retailer’s ‘don’t ask’ policy “is having particularly dangerous consequences for the high conservation value forest of the Russian Far East and the endangered species dependent on them, including the world’s largest cat, the Siberian tiger. Roughly 84% of Wal-Mart’s wood products, like cribs and toilet seats, are sourced from China, and much of China’s lumber is imported from Russia, where as much as 50% of the logging is illegal. EIA undercover investigators met with 8 Chinese manufacturers that supply Wal-Mart with wood. EIA asserts that Wal-Mart is focused only on price, and “has not concerned itself with the origin of the timber used for its products.” Wal-Mart’s supply chain “will contribute to the depletion of Russia’s ‘protected’ forests unless concerted changes are made,” EIA warns. One supplier EIA examined makes over 200,000 baby cribs for Wal-Mart every year from Russian poplar and birch. EIA employees, posing as wood buyers, learned that Wal-Mart suppliers admitted to paying protection money to the Russian mafia, and to illegal logging. Almost comical is the fact that logs coming into China from Russia have to be offloaded from the railcars, and reloaded onto Chinese railcars, because the Russian train tracks are a different size than the Chinese. When Wal-Mart customers buy these wood products, they are supporting “criminal timber syndicates,” the environmental group says. Wal-Mart has pledged to “develop transparency to the wood fiber source,” but EIA replies that the retailer has shown a “lack of concern” about the sustainability of its wood sourcing. Illegally harvested wood is cheaper because it bypasses environmental regulations, permits, labor laws, taxes and tariffs. Illegal lumber also has a negative impact on the American economy. In 2004, illegal timber cost American suppliers $460 million in lost exports to foreign markets, and as much as $700 million in depressed U.S. prices. The EIA claims that Wal-Mart’s drive to squeeze the lowest price from its suppliers encourages illegal logging. “While the company has laid out strong talking points,”: EIA notes, “it has thus far avoided taking any firm action to eliminate even illegally logged timber from its supply chain, much less to source from sustainably harvested forests.” The group says that without concrete goals and more transparency, all Wal-Mart’s rhetoric about ‘good wood’ “cannot yet be taken seriously.” EIA documents Wal-Mart’s “total inattention to the legality of their raw materials.”

The EIA report calls on Wal-Mart “to commit to eliminating illegally sourced wood from its supply chain, and to implement a rigorous purchasing policy for wood products that includes auditing and tracking mechanisms.” EIA concludes that “the drive for ‘everyday low prices’ to the exclusion of other questions has a serious cost… .The type of logging pervasive in the Russian Far East damages the environment, robs the government of revenue, and promotes corruption. There is nothing sustainable about this model.” Wal-Mart admits “it’s difficult to know if the products we source are coming from certified suppliers and are being made using legally sustainable practices.” “It is now time for Wal-Mart to commit to eliminating illegal wood from its shelves, and communicate this policy to its suppliers of furniture, frames, toys, paper and packaging and other wood products,” the EIA insists. “Wal-Mart shoppers do not want to be an inadvertent party to forest crimes.” Alexander von Bismarck, the Executive Director of EIA, says, “To have Wal-Mart ignore measures that to the rest of the world seem common sense — such as asking where your suppliers’ wood is from — has an enormous impact. It undermines the current global efforts to clean up the timber industry. When Wal-Mart fails to implement an entire category of environmental responsibility, it creates demand designed to take advantage of that. This is currently feeding the illegal logging problem.” The EIA believes that Wal-Mart has within its power the ability to “limit the destruction of some of our planet’s final frontier forests and the wildlife and people who depend upon them.” Today, there are more than 6,800 Wal-Mart stores around the globe (the company recently opened its 3,000th international store), but only 400 remaining Siberian tigers. That’s not very sustainable odds.

Like this article?

Share on facebook
Share on Facebook
Share on twitter
Share on Twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on Linkdin
Share on pinterest
Share on Pinterest
Al Norman

Al Norman

Al Norman first achieved national attention in October of 1993 when he successfully stopped Wal-Mart from locating in his hometown of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Almost 3 decades later they is still not Wal-Mart in Greenfield. Norman has appeared on 60 Minutes, was featured in three films, wrote 3 books about Wal-Mart, and gained widespread media attention from the Wall Street Journal to Fortune magazine. Al has traveled throughout the U.S., Barbados, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and Japan, helping dozens of local coalitions fight off unwanted sprawl development. 60 Minutes called Al “the guru of the anti-Wal-Mart movement.”

Leave a comment

Find Us

  • 21 Grinnell St, Greenfield, MA
  • (413) 834-4284
  • [email protected]

Helpful Links

  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
Menu
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Recent Posts

CHRISTIAN SMALLS, FIRED AMZN WAREHOUSE WORKER, FILES RACE DISCRIMATION LAWSUIT. …

November 16, 2020

DUE TO THE SURGE IN CORONA CASES, WMT IS LIMITING SHOPPERS TO 5 PER 1,000 SF. A…

November 16, 2020

AMAZON RECENTLY ANNOUNCED FREE 1 HOUR GROCERY PICK UP FOR PRIME MEMBER ORDERS &g…

November 15, 2020

AFTER BEING REJECTED BY THE DEERFIELD, MA PLANNING BOARD, DOLLAR GENERAL APPEALS…

November 15, 2020

WILL TRUMP ALLOW ORACLE & WALMART TO INVEST IN TIK TOK? The deadline to ban …

November 14, 2020

AMAZON ACCUSED OF BREAKING ANTITRUST RULES IN EUROPE. “Data of 3rd-party sellers…

November 14, 2020

WALMART PET CARE NOW SELLING PET INSURANCE. My 3 year old mixed breed cat would …

November 13, 2020

WALMART’S GOING TO THE DOGS. 90 M OF ITS CUSTOMERS HAVE DOGS. You’d be Goofy not…

November 13, 2020

WALMART CASHIERS STILL LOOKING FOR A SEAT. They won a $65 M lawsuit in 2019, but…

November 12, 2020

4 DAYS BEFORE THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION,THE CO-FOUNDER OF HOME DEPOT SAID: “Pres…

November 12, 2020

Recent Tweets

Al Norman 10 hours ago

WALMART IS GIVING VACCINE AT 150 STORES ACROSS AMERICA. That’s 3% OF ITS 4,756 US stores. 97% of stores have nothing. Rollout, or rollover? https://t.co/ENiOK5XWDt

Read More
Al Norman 1 day ago

HOME DEPOT FOLLOWING AMAZON’S PLAYBOOK. Every word in this press release could have been written by Jeff Bezos. More huge fulfillment center sprawl. https://t.co/ncaye2SJC8

Read More
Al Norman 1 day ago

FED JUDGE TOSSES OUT WALMART LAWSUIT, WHICH SOUGHT TO TOSS OUT A DOJ LAWSUIT CHARGING WMT FILLED THOUSANDS OF INVALID OPIOID RXS. Walmart feels the pain. https://t.co/r1pwZE7ERL

Read More

Ⓒ 2020 - All Rights Are Reserved

Design and Development by Just Peachy Web Design

Download Our Free Guide

Download our Free Guide

Learn How To Stop Big Box Stores And Fulfillment Warehouses In Your Community

The strategies written here were produced by Sprawl-Busters in 2006 at the request of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), mainly for citizen groups that were fighting Walmart. But the tips for fighting unwanted development apply to any project—whether its fighting Dollar General, an Amazon warehouse, or a Home Depot.

Big projects, or small, these BATTLEMART TIPS will help you better understand what you are up against, and how to win your battle.