The perfect garden, at a price by Jenna Brown

When you think ‘a perfect garden’ I’m sure a few things come into mind for such an ideal ;the green grass, the stone patio and an array of flowers in vivid colours pretty much fills the criteria. Of course you’d need something to sit on in order to enjoy such a wonder once you step out of your front door, so you need a decent piece of garden furniture. A good set of wooden chairs and a table does the job well. However I don’t think people realise the truth about the wood you sit or eat on. If they did I don’t think they’d be able to enjoy their luxuries like before.

 

Shady dealings.

For companies in the garden furniture market, the profits available make it a lucrative investment for their business. The garden furniture market brings in a hefty sum every year and continues to grow. Yet the costs of high demand have left a scarring effect on the far-eastern countries, and rainforests throughout the world.

In 2005 it was reported that Wyevale, the largest garden chain in the UK, were responsible for dealing with supporting one of the most controlling dictatorships in the world and destroying rainforests. And even now they deal with illegal practices. The timber they use for their garden furniture has been confirmed to come from the coasts of Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia, within the rainforests that reside there. Not only is it shocking that they are supporting Burma, which is lead under a military dictatorship, but the fact that they do dealings in the port of Labuan, off the coast of Malaysia. This port is renowned for the smuggling of illegal timbers around Indonesia into the Far East for furniture assembly. Almost 90% of all logging done in Indonesia is illegal, so it’s disgraceful that our retailers such as Wyevale and the super chain Argos do this so that we get our garden sets cheap and sturdy. The money we give them feels more like blood money, considering the rainforests being plundered for a couple of pieces of good timber.

Dire consequences.

With all this logging happening under unlawful terms, these forests are leading further into destruction. Species like the orang-utan living in these forests are on the brink of extinction with the increase in logging in these places it has caused half the population of orang-utans to be wiped out in just ten years.

 

In our recent times we are becoming more and more aware of this problem. Greenpeace has contributed especially to this, providing easy-to-use online guide to buying garden furniture. It is designed to help consumers identify which shops sell environmentally friendly garden furniture, as well as those who still sell furniture from rainforest destruction.
It is also shown that retailers such as B&Q and Tesco’s are doing their best to provide the best furniture from the renewable resources available. So not all hope is lost for the perfect garden!