Meranti wood – a little bit of ancient forest in your house?

I’m looking at getting a new wooden gate installed. One of the suppliers I contacted had a large ad offering meranti gates.

I know little about wood, just that meranti is quite sought after, but something rang a bell about meranti. I was interested in where meranti comes from, whether it’s a sustainably harvested, or whether buyers are effectively chopping down the rainforest for their garden furniture.

As it turns out, meranti is one of the woods that Greenpeace suggests avoiding at all costs (note – the link is annoying Flash file, noisy, and difficult to navigate) as it’s almost entirely harvested unsustainably from the South-East Asian tropical forests.

Meranti wood isn’t yet quite up there with 4×4’s and McDonalds as things you can do to destroy the planet in the awareness of most people, but I’m sure that can change soon 🙂

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3 comments

  1. Dear Sir,

    We need urgently bulk quantity of Meranti wood for our project at Doha, Qatar. So, if any body contact me, I will provide details quantity of required items.

    Thanks & Regards,

    Md. Mahbubur Rahman
    Procurement Manager
    E-mail: procurement@itccnet.com
    Mob: 00974-6782113
    Tel: 00974-4684437
    Fax:00974-4684439

  2. What do you think about Cendar wood..this is good as well as its water resistant and your furniture reamins good for long even if it comes in contact with water much..

  3. I haven’t heard of Cendar, but if you mean Cedar, Greenpeace has Red Cedar on their avoid list as well. I’m not sure about other sorts.

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