Door manufacturer Vicaima Ltd has lost business with developer Bellway plc after Greenpeace allegations that its products are made using illegal rainforest timber.
The knock-on effect is that some timber merchants have been left trying to arrange alternative suppliers to fulfil Bellway orders, in some cases worth many thousands of pounds.
Bellway pulled the plug on Portugal-based Vicaima after receiving a letter from Greenpeace alleging illegal logging practices. A company spokesperson said: “We advised our divisions to stop using these doors immediately. We have a policy of only using timber from certified suppliers. We need to check the accuracy of the information that has been provided to us, but we need to take Greenepace’s accusations seriously.”
He sais the onus was on Vicaima to prove that its timber came from sustainable sources and added: “If they do, we can possibly enter into a commercial arrangement again.”
Vicaima has strongly denied that it sources wood from the Brazilian Amazon. Dareth Daley, a commercial director at the company’s UK offices in Swindon, said: “As a company we tend to use products from sustainble sources or composite materials.”
Activists from Greenpeace and Portuguese environmental group Quercus recently boarded a cargo ship which arrived in Portugal from Brazil and staged protests at the Vicaima factory in Porto. They accused the company of sourcing timber from at least four companies which have criminal convictions for illegal logging.
Meanwhile, Vicaima is claiming €10m from Quercus in damages it says were caused by the blockade of its installations.
