New Zealand — South Island retailer
Smiths City is embroiled in a row with Greenpeace over a report
critical of its outdoor-furniture imports.
Smiths City Group managing director Rick
Hellings said the report, produced by Greenpeace and Indonesia's Human
Rights Committee, was a nonsense.
It ranked retailers on their policies of eliminating the sale of
timber products from illegal and unsustainable sources, particularly
the popular tropical hardwood kwila, often used in outdoor furniture,
floors and decks.
The Christchurch-based retailer was given a D grade and was ranked 16th in a field of 19.
The Warehouse was given the highest grade, a B+, followed by Briscoes, Bunnings and Mitre 10.
The remainder, including Placemakers, Harvey Norman and the BBQ Factory, all received grades of C+ or lower.
The Green Party said the report was evidence that New Zealand
companies were contributing to the destruction of the last of the
world's great rainforests, primarily in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
"Indigenous people are losing their livelihoods and having their
human rights abused, and endangered species are losing their habitat,"
party co-leader Russel Norman said.
He called for the Government to take steps to block the import of timber from trees taken illegally from rainforests.
Hellings questioned Greenpeace's methodology and accused its
campaigners of ignoring efforts by his staff to discuss Smiths City's
timber-furniture imports and outline its policies.
"We are very, very disappointed and a little angry," he said.
Group general manager Martin Simcock said Smiths City did not sell kwila.
"We made a decision a couple of years ago that we would not import
kwila products, and the main reason for that was we could not verify
that it came from a plantation source," he said.
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