Hill’s Panel Products (HPP) has gained global PEFC accreditation for its work in supporting sustainable forestry and timber suppliers.
The furniture components manufacturer, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, gained the accreditation from the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) after undergoing a rigorous assessment process to ensure it buys its timber products from sustainable, legal and traceable sources.
Commenting on the achievement, HPP purchasing director Alan Bolton said: “We are committed to sustainability right across our business and a key area is procuring wood products from responsibly-managed sources. So, we are very proud to demonstrate our support through this PEFC accreditation. It assures our trade customers that the materials used to make our products can be traced back to the forests certified to a credible, international standard.”
Products that display the PEFC label guarantee that they are sourced from sustainably manager forests and can be closely traced from the forest to the end user, with proof that they are linked to legally managed and certified forests.
Bolton added: “Sustainability and responsible, greener business practices are increasingly important to our trade customers, consumers and society at large. We are promoting awareness of our own sustainability practices along with those of our long-standing partners and suppliers such as Kronospan and Egger, who have considerable forestry operations in the UK.
HPP now has a major distribution deal with British-made Kronospan worktops. Its Wrexham factory has undergone major investment, including measures to improve sustainability.
And working with Egger, HPP has also launched an online Inspiration Centre. Egger produces worktops at its Northumberland-based factory that are made from 88% renewable materials. Its 38mm worktops can all be recycled.
Bolton added: “HPP has been providing solutions, service, inspiration and partnerships to the fitted furniture industry for 30 years. In that time, sustainability has become an increasingly important consideration across our own business and the wider industry, from forestry and raw materials to manufacturing, energy use, packaging, waste reduction and recycling. HPP has carried out a wide range of sustainability improvements across all our own operations and encourages similar moves by other businesses.”
HPP was also a sustainability partner at the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards in 2019 held in Manchester, at which sustainability was a key theme, and which supported projects in Greater Manchester, Africa and India offset the event’s carbon footprint.
Seventy young trees from the community-backed Hulme Garden Centre in Greater Manchester were planted at the Royal Horticultural Society’s new 145-acre Garden Bridgewater scheme in Salford. Saplings were also donated to primary school projects.