HDI is built around renewable and recyclable resources. As North America’s largest Architectural Building Products distributor, we are active in our efforts to minimize our environmental impact in addition to providing products that are recognized for contributions to sustainability.
Proudly 57 of our 61 distribution centers are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for Chain of Custody (by SCS Global Services, FSC-C010784). The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) is a global, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of responsible forest management worldwide. FSC defines standards based on agreed principles for responsible forest stewardship that are supported by environmental, social, and economic stakeholders. FSC guarantees the integrity of the supply chain for certified products and insures that products have been harvested from forests that meet stringent environmental, social and economic standards or are from verified recycled sources.
We are also members of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC), supporting green building initiatives through accredited programs such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®). This program is active in 30 countries around the world and has rapidly become the most widely used standard in certifying green construction. Our LEED® Credit Product Guide provides information on product credit contributions.
CEU PROGRAMS: HDI is a proud member of the Composite Panel Association (CPA). This association is an approved provider of Continuing Education Courses for the American Institute of Architects. CPA has developed the following courses for architects and designers to learn about the benefits of sourcing wood-based composite panels and decorative surfaces.
In Practice
HDI works hard to reduce the environmental impact of our operations through waste prevention. Both paper and aluminum recycling programs are standard practice, as is electronic invoicing, which reduces our requirement for paper and the use of fossil fuels in the delivery of those invoices. Our distribution centers seek only to purchase consumable paper products made from post consumer, recycled or Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) fiber, and all cardboard cover sheets are made from 100% recycled cardboard.
Products and Supplies
We strive to continually add new environmentally responsible materials to our product offerings. Therefore we look for vendors whose products have been certified through a third party. Many of our vendors are certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the Composite Panel Association’s Environmentally Preferable Products (EPP), the Program for the Endorsement of Forestry Certification (PEFC) , and ISO 14001 1 for environmental management, as well as by the California Air Resource Board (CARB) for composite wood product emissions.
Social Responsibility
Global and local communities vastly benefit from well managed forests, and we understand that the decisions we make in how we conduct our business and where we source products, also implies a social and economic responsibility to the people and communities that live in those regions. For this reason, we ask that our foreign manufacturers supply us a statement of compliance with all government regulations regarding fair wages and labor unions’ rights to collective bargaining, as well as contribute to the laborer’s social insurance benefit programs as enforced by their local governments.