On 14th June, Greenpeace volunteers from the 'Forest Crime Unit' visited twenty four Travis Perkins stores across the country.
At the Dalston store in East London, a crew of 8 people from the unit cordoned off the illegally logged Indoesian timber they identified. They found 19 crates of Barito Pacific ply in one section and quickly branded it a 'forest crime scene'. The volunteers then hung a banner which read 'Stop Rainforest Destruction'.
Greenpeace investigated Barito Pacific and revealed the company is dealing in illegally logged Indonesian timber.
One volunteer was distressed at the reality of seeing illegally logged Indonesian timber in her local Travis Perkins' store in Hackney, comparing it to an "ancient forest tombstone".
"It just shows how important it has been to be part of this nationwide event today. Consumers need to know that the ply they are buying from Travis Perkins is illegally logged timber from the last remaining rainforests of Indonesia," she said.
Our Forest Crime Unit crews visited stores in 15 regions around the country, including Hampstead, South Woodford, Vauxhall, Battersea and Palmers Green in London.
They delivered a copy of the Greenpeace report Partners in Crime to the store manager and handed out leaflets to staff and customers.
Indonesia is suffering the highest rate of forest destruction in the world, which is driven by demand for cheap timber and paper products. Many of Indonesia's unique species depend upon these forests for their survival and the country now has more species threatened with extinction than anywhere else on earth, including the orang-utan.
The UK is the sixth largest importer of Indonesian plywood in the world. Shiploads of plywood from Indonesia's last remaining rainforests arrive in the UK each month.
The Partners in Crime report cites Travis Perkins and Jewson timber merchants as two of the largest traders in the UK dealing in illegal Indonesian timber. Earlier this year, Greenpeace investigators discovered Indonesian timber, bought from companies involved in illegal logging, being sold as cheap plywood and doors in Travis Perkins and Jewson stores across the UK.
| Update: Since our exposé, both Jewson and Travis Perkins have stopped purchasing timber from Indonesia. |
