home | about | products | rooms | wood | contact
| |
All of our products are made from natural or recycled materials, we focus on providing solid wood furniture at affordable prices, however we also provide a unique range of home accessories made from recycled glass, slate and natural fibres to name but a few.
The following outlines are key product materials:
Wood types Our current furniture collections are constructed from Reclaimed Teak, Sheesham (Indian Rosewood), Acacia, Radiata Pine and Fruitwoods including Mango. Please refer to individual wood sections for more details on the specific nature of each timber. With just a little TLC, genuine wood furniture will last a lifetime - several lifetimes, in fact. Taking good care of your solid wood furniture ensures its longevity. It's easy and largely a matter of common sense, however we have included a useful wood care guide and some handy first aid tips for your furniture just in case the kids or an accidental wine spillage get the better of your furniture! Don't forget, included in the price of every piece of furniture is our wood care reminder service, where we will email you to gently remind you that your furniture would like a fresh wax application. Tangkoko Jute Bags Versatile, durable, cost effective and degradable, there is little to rival jute. Grown on small farms in the West Bengal region of India and known as the 'golden fibre', jute is truly the Maharaja of natural fibres. Our suppliers have also just received Fairtrade accreditation for their range of printed textiles, so you can buy in confidence knowing that the workers who made the bags were given a fair deal. We sell only genuine Jute bags which will hopefully last you a lifetime, whilst helping to reduce the estimated 342 plastic bags that every household uses every year. Not only does it help to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, but the reported 342 plastic bags per year is also responsible for 25.14kg of CO2 whereas a shopper using a single reusable cotton bag each year is responsible for just 0.62kg - worth thinking about! Our jute bags are plastic (LDPE) lined to provide extra rigidity and strength, this lining can be separated and recycled separately and will typically degrade within 60 days. The remaining Jute is fully bio-degradable. We hope that you will find the Tangkoko Jute bags as useful and versatile as we do - groceries, wine, recycling, picnics, you name it the Tangkoko Jute bags can carry it all. | |
| |
Environmental
Our over-arching environmental policy can best be described in the following five points: 1. We will only use natural and recycled materials for our products; 2. Where we use natural materials, these must be from verifiable sustainable sources; 3. We will not permit banned or hazardous materials to be used in the manufacturing process; 4. Our carbon impact must be minimised and where possible off-set; 5. We will minimise the impacts of our actions via recycling and use of recycled products. Sustainable Timber We use natural, solid wood sourced with the environment in mind. Although no legal certification is currently required in the UK to show the source of wood products, we are constantly in touch with our manufacturers to ensure that the wood with which they work is ecologically sound and obtained from sustainable sources. Our Indonesian and Indian furniture is produced using kiln-dried stocks of plantation acacia, sheesham and fruitwood, we also use reclaimed teak as a viable alternative to forest felled teak. Our radiata pine collections are sourced from New Zealand plantations and follow strict environmental controls. We are often asked what sustainable timber actually is. Sustainable timber means that the tree harvested will be replaced by another tree, whether naturally grown or planted. Extraction is compensated and actually planned for, unlike in the case of most other materials. 'Sustainability' is not only about quantity, but also about the ecological quality of the resource base - the forest. 'Sustainable timber' means that regardless of the extraction of individual trees, the forest maintains its ecological function as for biodiversity, climate and water cycles. 'Sustainable' is also about people. 'Sustainable timber' implies that local people in the source country ie Indian and Indonesia are involved in the benefits from the forest. Thereby the forest means value and long-term income in particular to local populations, which ties in with our ethical policy. Sustainable management implies the maintenance of the productivity of the asset base. Thus, in theory, under sustainable forest management, logging should meet the needs of the present without compromising the continuity of the ecosystem and the goods and services that it provides. However, illegal loggers undermine the system by avoiding taxes and undercutting prices. Because they don't have legal title to land there is no incentive to harvest forests in a sustainable manner. Increasingly forestry organisations that do adhere to national and international standards for timber harvesting are targeting these illicit operators. There are a number of schemes and organisations who will certify the source of the wood and its 'sustainable' credentials. These schemes aim to ensure wood is harvested in a sustainable and responsible manner, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), operate the largest and most widely known certification schemes. We are continuing to work with our suppliers and manufacturers into 2008 and beyond to try and replace more of our wood sources with timber from accredited schemes and preferably schemes which are working towards FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) accreditation. We are currently in discussion with the Tropical Forest Trust (www.tropicalforesttrust.com) to assist us in achieving our aim. The Tropical Forest Trust is a registered charity focused on making the trade in timber from sustainably managed forests, standard practice. Where international schemes are not in operation, which is the typical situation across India and Indonesia, we ensure that our wood is supplied from government managed plantations, where all felling and replanting is strictly controlled by the relevant government agency. Reclaimed Teak For our reclaimed teak products, a certificate of authenticity is provided by the Indonesian forestry commission, Perum Perhutani to confirm the origin of the wood as reclaimed rather than forest felled. 
The reason we currently avoid using natural forest felled teak is due in part to the relative growth rates of teak over other plantation species. Teak, will typically take 20 - 25 years to reach felling height and after many years of de-forestation and unsustainable harvesting, stocks are limited. In comparison, Acacia can reach felling height after 6 - 8 years and Sheesham in 10 years, which makes these species far easier to manage and harvest in a sustainable manner. Looking forward into 2008, we hope to be able to bring you forest felled teak which is from guaranteed sustainable sources accredited by the FSC - watch this space! Hazardous Materials We do not use materials known to be hazardous to people and other living things, such as: CFCs, Asbestos, Halons, PCBs, Carbon tetrachloride, 1, 1, 1-Trichloroethane, Tetrachloroethylene, Lead and its compounds, Cadmium and its compounds, Mercury and its compounds, Chlorinated paraffins, PVC, TBT (tributyl tin), and Chromium VI. We derive these lists from global best practice, following EU and US legislation and readily available 'black' lists. A simple example of this in practice is our wax which is toluene free and still delivers excellent results. Low energy footprint See carbon off-setting for further discussion on our participation of carbon-off-setting schemes. We are also actively working with our energy suppliers with a view to utilising green energy provided from sustainable sources i.e. water, wind etc in our office. Unfortunately, due to our location in Manchester, solar power is not an option! We specifically chose our delivery vehicle with the environment in mind, we researched bio-diesel and alternative options, however with the improvement in diesel technology, we chose a diesel vehicle with low C02 emissions, high fuel economy and of course, we off-set our annual mileage to further reduce the impact. Recycling We recycle all of our packaging generated during the delivery and shipping process. We only use recycled paper and card for our office and marketing purposes and where possible and quality permits we use 100% post consumer recycled products ie those which have been used once. As ever our policies are very much a work in progress and we are continually re-visiting our position and approach. We hope that you appreciate our efforts and can see the benefits of buying responsibly. | |
| |
Ethical sourcing is an important and effective means of bringing benefits to workers in developing countries. It is having a real effect on large companies in the United Kingdom, encouraging them to look at all their trading activities.
Our ethical trade principles are based around non exploitation and we follow the code set down by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), which is an alliance of companies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and trade union organisations. The ETI exist to promote and improve the implementation of corporate codes of practice which cover supply chain working conditions. For more information on the ETI visit www.ethicaltrade.org. In summary the ETI code includes:
Whilst we ensure that it is a given that our manufacturers and suppliers are all well looked after and do not employ children. It is always encouraging to hear of our suppliers funding schools and churches or undertaking community projects. Some of our UK suppliers are members of BAFTS (the British Association for Fair Trade Shops), a Fair Trade organisation, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, which seeks greater equality in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions, securing the rights of marginalized producers and workers and increasing environmental awareness and responsibility. Our objective over the next 12 months is to work towards becoming an accredited importer and member of BAFTS. For more information on BAFTS visit www.bafts.org.uk. Finally, we bank with the Co-operative Bank plc, for the specific reason that they have a strict customer led, ethical policy which covers all aspects of their operations and also require consideration and assessment of the operations that Tangkoko undertake as their customer. We are not perfect but we are working towards improving our position and that of our supply chain. | |
