Rona's FSC Story

“Rona's new policy places preference on FSC certification because it is the one that best responds to the company's requirements with regard to relations with local communities and biodiversity conservation.” – Normand Dumont, Executive Vice President of merchandising

Rona is the first Do-it-Yourself retailer in Canada to become FSC-certified and broadly offer FSC-certified products to Canadians.  In November 2008, Rona, Canada's largest distributor and retailer of hardware, renovation and gardening products, announced a market transforming wood procurement policy stating their preference for FSC-certified products.  The policy established by Rona sets firm targets for increasing its purchases of FSC-certified lumber, with a goal of 90% of all commodity dimension lumber and plywood stocked by Rona certified by the end of 2011, and at least 25% of their supplies FSC-certified by the end of 2012. Rona's policy is one of the strongest in Canada and has positioned them as a leader in forest sustainability within the lumber and home renovation sector in Canada. Rona stores across Canada, generate annual sales of $6.3 billion a year. Ten per cent of that -$630 millon - is in lumber purchases, giving the company significant purchase power in the forest sector. In November 2010, Rona announced that it had achieved its target of 25% FSC-certified wood - two years ahead of schedule. As further demonstration of their commitment to responsible sourcing, Rona also achieved FSC Chain of Custody certification for ten of their stores, and three distribution centres. This provides an assurance to consumers that all FSC products are traceable from the Rona store all the way back to the forest. Deciding not to end there, Rona also worked with suppliers to have three of their stores exclusively offer FSC-certified softwood lumber. This achievement is all the more remarkable as Rona is the first Do-it-Yourself retailer in Canada to become certified and broadly offer FSC products to Canadians. Rona's vision for a sustainable future Rona believes that the future is built one choice at a time. The choices we make today will impact tomorrow. Rona considers that we have a role to play to ensure the sustainability of our environment. That's why Rona has chosen to take concrete actions that will decrease our environmental footprint and help our customers decrease theirs.

About Rona Products RONA is the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, home renovation and gardening products and operates a network of more than 950 corporate, franchise and affiliate stores of various sizes and formats. With close to 30,000 employees working under its family of banners in every region of Canada and more than 17 million square feet of retail space, the RONA store network generates over $6 billion in annual retail sales. Visit www.rona.ca View Rona's Wood Procurement Policy     Thank you to Kruger Products for their support of the 'FSC Story' campaign.