From a Just Forests press release 13/12/2012
Call for immediate ban on the sale of Chinese plywood in Ireland
Controversial ‘bintangor’ plywood on sale in Woodies DIY
Just Forests is calling on Woodies CEO, Mr Ray Colman, to immediately remove ‘bintangor-faced’ Chinese plywood from his chain of DIY stores across Ireland.
China has become the world’s largest importer of tropical woods.
Chinese plywood companies source their ‘bintangor’ supplies from the Paradise Forests of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea where according to GREENPEACE “76 to 90% of the logging is illegal.”
“The availability of illegally logged ‘bintangor-faced’ Chinese plywood in Ireland is destroying tropical forests and undermining Irish jobs”, according to Just Forests coordinator, Tom Roche.
Just Forests have uploaded a sample of bintangor-faced plywood purchased in Woodies DIY store in Athlone on Friday 7th December last and are asking all Irish wood users to sign their Just PETITION aimed at asking Woodies to replace Chinese plywood with Irish-made panel board.
The Just PETITION can be accessed here.
The world’s forests are under severe threat. In Indonesia it is estimated that 76-80% of all logging is illegal; in the Brazilian Amazon it is 63%, and in the Congo, 50%.
The illegal logging of ‘bintangor’ is all the more acute now as medical scientists have discovered that the bintangor tree produces a compound that fights HIV.
“While we do welcome the new EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) that comes into force in March 2013, we feel the Irish wood consumer has a right to know how they can change unacceptable commercial exploitation of the world’s precious natural resources,”‘ according to Roche.
