The depletion of the Earth's natural resources is something that concerns us all, and rightly so. We at CAPITAL CRISPIN VENEER take this issue extremely seriously both as individuals and collectively as a business.

Wood is, after all, one of this world's most precious raw materials and an extremely versatile product of nature. Special care must be taken by all concerned with its use that everything possible is done to conserve future supplies. This in turn means that the forests of the world must not be further reduced in size. Not only are they the source of the precious material we handle but also natural areas of great beauty and interest, and home to countless other living plants and animals whose survival must surely be of immense importance to everyone.

Converting legally felled trees into veneer means that each log is utilized to yield the maximum amount of valuable surface material. Where appropriate, veneering on to a suitable processed board is far less wasteful than using solid timber.

There is nothing wrong with using one of nature's finest products providing care is taken through responsible forest management to see that replanting is guaranteed - where possible with the same species. By the same token, it is surely also important to utilize as much of each veneer as possible. Large design schemes calling for all veneers to be used at a standard width for instance, are incredibly wasteful of a material that has taken many years to grow. When every veneer leaf is to be cut to a width of say, 200 mm, this results in anything under around 210 mm being thrown away and wider material being cut down to the chosen width with all its resulting waste. This is even more incongruous when the specifier wishes to show his environmental credentials by insisting that the log(s) emanate from a certificated forest area.

We are not buyers of logs "in the round" since we do not slice our own veneer. Our suppliers are established and reputable veneer mills, mostly situated in the country of origin, and we are satisfied that all of them have a responsible environmental policy.

Our company is both FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) registered for Chain of Custody. Certificate nos. are SGS-COC-2530 and SGS-PEFC/COC-0071 respectively. We are also members of Woodland Heritage, an organization dedicated to forest conservation and management in the U.K.

Currently, relatively few veneers originate from certified sources but, whenever possible, our policy is to purchase FSC or PEFC material. Where this is not possible we take extra care by asking questions of our suppliers concerning their policy for the sourcing of any species that may be of concern. Of course, some high quality logs originate from individual estates or farms where it is highly unlikely that any certification scheme will apply since, in the main, these cover forest areas.

In all its activities Capital Crispin Veneer is committed to achieving environmental best practice whenever practical, and reducing the consumption of packaging and other materials by sensible recycling and monitoring.