Britain's Green Building Materials Retailer

B&Q, the largest retailer of building and household maintenance supplies in the United Kingdom, has an ambitious program for environmental protection. Under the direction of Dr. Alan Knight, B&Q has undertaken to improve the lifecycle impacts of its stores and every product sold in them. To this end, every B&Q supplier must complete a 40-page questionnaire and be graded by B&Q. Suppliers also receive a summary of their environmental performance and an accounting of issues that need to be addressed. Larger suppliers and those with high-profile environmental issues are visited by B&Q environmental auditors.

One of the areas to which B&Q is devoting the most attention is lumber. The company is committed to meeting the target set by the World Wide Fund for Nature of not buying any timber that isn’t from a “well-managed” natural forest or plantation. B&Q recognizes the need to include sustainable harvests, ecosystem protections, and local economic factors in its assessment of forests, and has stated that it will “endeavour to only buy timber which has been independently certified” as well managed. Knight is a founding member of the Forest Stewardship Council, the international group coordinating the efforts of organizations that certify lumber supplies and forestry operations (see EBN