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Are secondary wood products environmentally friendly? a study of public perceptions

University of British Columbia

The forest and wood products industry in Canada plays a significant role in the Canadian economy. As the market for secondary wood products has increased around the world, it has been noted that British Columbia is falling behind other regions in taking advantage of this growth. Meanwhile, the environment has become a significant topic, both globally and in British Columbia. This research merges these two areas of concern, exploring survey participants’ views on environmental sustainability and environmental friendliness, and examining what effect these views have on their purchasing decisions. The survey examines participants’ knowledge of environmental issues and general purchasing habits, and then focuses on knowledge, perceptions, and purchasing habits in connection to secondary wood products. Analyses of the survey results follow a literature review. Preliminary recommendations are provided to the secondary wood products industry on how to maximize the marketing strength of environmental attributes. Despite reporting high levels of concern and a strong belief that humanity is facing an environmental crisis, participants showed a surprisingly low commitment to purchasing environmentally friendly products, and were more likely to prioritize other purchasing values, such as price and quality. While participants assessed their knowledge of British Columbia’s forest practices and related industries as relatively low and did not consider the practices of industry to be very environmentally conscious, they also generally do not avoid purchasing secondary wood products due to environmental concerns.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-04-15

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7100

Forestry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/