tff-indonesia.org

Collaboration With Armstrong

Written by Art Klassen Wednesday, 02 April 2008 07:00

Collaboration With Amstrong

LANCASTER, PA - Armstrong World Industries, Inc., the world’s largest hardwood flooring company, is partnering with the Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) to promote responsible forest management practices.

“At Armstrong, we are committed to protecting forests and to promoting responsible forest management practices,” said Frank Ready, president and CEO - Armstrong North American Floor Products.

Armstrong requires its wood suppliers to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations, including those covering raw materials and labor. Less than five percent of the Company’s wood purchases come from tropical forests. In those instances, Armstrong requires suppliers to produce documentation verifying their adherence to national and international rules and regulations governing specific tropical wood species.

“By working with the Tropical Forest Foundation, we will further ensure, through third-party verification, that Armstrong wood flooring products meet the highest standards of sustainable forest management,” Ready said.

Armstrong will work with TFF, a nonprofit educational organization, to further strengthen its wood purchasing policy by having TFF manage independent third-party verification that the Company’s wood products suppliers obtain lumber legally. In addition, Armstrong and TFF will work together to identify ways that the tropical timber companies with which Armstrong’s suppliers do business can use Reduced Impact Logging, an internationally recognized system to minimize the ecological impact of logging and ensure healthy forests.

“As a TFF patron, Armstrong is an integral part of an important international leadership effort to preserve and protect precious ecological systems, benefit the environment and promote the responsible use natural resources,” says O. Keister Evans, executive director of the Tropical Forest Foundation.

TFF-Indonesia will assume the lead role in working with Armstrong suppliers in Indonesia and China. TFF, with regional field programs based in Brazil, Guyana, Indonesia and Gabon, is well positioned to provide meaningful on the ground support to Armstrong in the realization of its environmental and responsible purchasing policies.