25 September 2008

MITRE 10 LAUNCHES NEW OUTDOOR FURNITURE RANGE
FROM TROPICAL FOREST TRUST SUPPORTED FOREST

New Zealand’s largest hardware retailer, Mitre 10, is this week meeting with members of the Tropical Forest Trust (TFT) to finalise plans for the launch of its new range of responsibly sourced kwila outdoor furniture.

Mitre 10 spokesperson Peter Stewart says that working closely with the TFT enables Mitre 10 to maintain its supply of an extremely popular outdoor furniture product, without compromising on the company’s commitment to ethics and sustainability.

“Becoming a member of TFT this year represents the first step in a long and exciting process, and is reflective of Mitre 10’s collective commitment to providing customers with top quality outdoor furniture that they can trust in and be proud of. Offering consumers kwila from a TFT-supported forest project will also help to direct demand away from current sources - forests with unsustainable practices”.

The TFT is an international organisation whose mission is to connect retailers with independently certified forests, or forests working towards that standard, which are managed for their long-term future and maximised in terms of value to people, wildlife and the environment.

TFT-supported forest projects are on a credible path towards achieving certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an organisation recognized worldwide as setting the gold standard in sustainable forest management. TFT is working to develop and maintain sustainable kwila forests in South East Asia.

Ensuring that all the wood used in the production of Mitre 10’s kwila outdoor furniture adheres to the strictest of guidelines is one of the TFT’s primary focuses. In order to ensure this, the TFT works with partners at all stages throughout the supply chain – from the forest, to mills and factories through to the retailer.

It has strict processes at all levels of its operation to ensure that its core mission - to conserve tropical forests - is not compromised in any way shape or form.

TFT Director Hilary Thompson says that the partnership with Mitre 10 is a fantastic move for the New Zealand industry and reflects a wider global movement towards sustainability.

“The TFT started in 1999 as a small organisation with seven Founding Members and one 10,000 hectare forest project. It has now grown into a global operation that encompasses over 54 TFT members, over three million hectares of TFT forest projects and impacts on over $340 million USD of tropical timber products. People are no longer complacent about the origin of their furniture. They do in fact care about where their furniture comes from, how it was made and the impact that its production has on the environment.”

She says that New Zealanders in particular are becoming increasingly astute, and that the partnership with Mitre 10 will benefit not just the consumer, but the industry as a whole.

Mitre 10’s new range of Icarus kwila furniture from TFT-supported forests will be available in store from 17 October.

For more information or to arrange an interview with a Mitre 10 representative please contact:

Rebecca Gannaway:
Rebeccagannaway@gmail.com
09 909 4723 / 021 2088 254

Editor’s notes 

TFT started in 1999 as a small organisation with 7 Founding Members and one 10,000 hectare forest project.

There are now over 54 TFT Members spread across the globe, representing over 240 million USD of non- FSC tropical timber products. To date there are over 800,000 hectares that have been FSC certified with assistance from TFT and another 2.2 million hectares of tropical forest working with the TFT, towards FSC certification.

TFT has a clear model it uses to work with forests towards FSC certification, which is the TFT definition of sustainability.

The key objective of all TFT projects is to protect and enhance environmental values, provide benefits for indigenous and other local communities, and ensure economically viability so that the environmental and social values have a secure future. To this end, TFT has developed a Certification Action Plan with the forest manager, based on a Gap Assessment against FSC standards and is helping the forest manager to implement the CAP, with the aim of FSC certification. This will ensure that the forest is well-managed and that the logs are responsibly harvested.

TFT staff also intensively monitor the Wood Control Systems (WCS), also known as Chain of Custody (CoC) systems in our factory to ensure our products can be traced back to a TFT Supported Forest. 

www.tropicalforesttrust.com