British Furniture Manufacturers

Environment and Sustainability

Furniture industry environment sustainability

BFM places furniture industry sustainability with upmost importance and works closely with organisations as follows: 

The UK Timber Regulation

From 1 January 2021, Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) will have its own Timber Regulations and Northern Ireland will remain subject to the European Timber Regulations, as set out in the Withdrawal Act and Northern Ireland Protocol.

The European Timber Regulation (EUTR) and FLEGT will become UK domestic legislation as the UK Timber Regulations and FLEGT. The requirements under the UK Regulations remain the same as under EUTR.

Join now for the full details of regulations with information on:

  • Operator responsibilities
  • Trader responsibilities
  • Information on due diligence
  • The role of the Office of Product Safety and Standards in enforcement

The UK Timber Regulation and are broadly similar to the EUTR (European Timber Regulation) Regulations.

Join now for reviews of the guidance and an example due diligence form.

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Chain of Custody Certification

Chain of Custody certification is a mechanism for tracking certified material from the forest to the final product to ensure that the wood, wood fibre or non-wood forest produce contained in the product or product line can be traced back to certified forests.

PEFC and FSC for example are two organisations that provide such mechanisms. They ensure that claims about products originating in sustainably managed forests are credible and verifiable throughout the whole supply chain and are used to certify entities all along the value-chain of forest-based products

The acquisition of Chain of Custody certification reinforces the sustainability commitments of businesses. It provides companies with a commercial advantage as it allows the COC logo on products, making them the preferred choice especially for responsible consumers.

Chain of Custody certification is carried out by accredited certification bodies that verify compliance of the wood flow accounting system applied by an enterprise complies with the relevant International Chain of Custody Standard.

The BFM has forged partnerships and negotiated discounted rates for member companies with PEFC and the Soil Association (accredited certification body) for Chain of Custody.

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Furniture Industry Sustainability Program

FISP is an independently certified furniture industry sustainability programme tailored to the needs of the Furniture Industry supply chain. FISP promotes best practise to drive social, economic and environmental change, via continual improvement of member’s business operations.

Created in 2006 FISP is recognised as the benchmark for sustainable practices in the UK furniture industry. It is widely referenced by procurement teams and furniture specifiers as a key part of an organisations sustainable procurement policies.

FISP has rapidly become established as the furniture industry forum on all environmental and sustainability issues. These issues relate to all aspects of the industry’s business from purchasing and procurement right through to end of product life, including social, ethical and employment concerns as well as waste, energy and emissions.

FISP is an industry scheme, run by its members with all scheme governance issues agreed by its Steering Committee which members are welcome to join.

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