One of the largest US forest products companies, Weyerhaeuser operates through five business segments: Wood Products includes lumber, plywood, and other building materials operations; Containerboard, Packaging and Recycling encompasses corrugated boxes, linerboard, industrial and agricultural packaging, and recycling; Pulp and Paper produces pulp and coated and uncoated papers; Timberlands focuses on the management of 6.4 million acres of company-owned US timberland and 30 million acres of leased Canadian timberland; and Real Estate and Related Assets involves developing housing and master-planned communities.
Contents
Criticisms
- Weyerhaeuser is among those companies that has supported “pollution secrecy” legislation, which would provide blanket immunity for environmental crimes, no matter how serious, to companies which self-report violations of environmental laws. Any documents related to the self-reporting become officially secret, cannot be divulged to the public, and cannot be used as evidence in any legal proceedings. Environmental and citizen’s groups are concerned about the implications of allowing corporations to hide civil and criminal pollution-related misconduct from judges, juries and the public. Companies argue that the laws will encourage them to perform more accurate and thorough environmental audits by removing the threat of liability based on information discovered during the audits. Source: The Planet, January 1997
- Weyerhaeuser employees on the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia allied with the native Haida, who have been battling the company over the control of forests on the islands. The new alliance, the Association of Haida Gwaai/Queen Charlotte Island Forest Workers, is said to include 135 of 155 Weyerhaeuser workers on the island. The employees say the company is attempting to contract jobs out to others from off the island, and are afraid of losing their jobs. In addition, the workers believe Weyerhaeuser will deplete forest resources and needs to provide a plan for sustainable logging. Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 6, 2002
- In 2002, Steven R. Rogel, Chairman, CEO, and President of Weyerhaeuser, made $5,702,400 in total compensation including stock option grants from Weyerhaeuser Corp.. Source: AFL-CIO
- Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Weyerhaeuser as the 63rd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 17.5 million pounds of toxic air released annually into the air. The pollution has had questionable effects on their employees. Major pollutants indicated by the study include formaldehyde, sulfuric acid, acetaldehyde, manganese compounds, and chlorine dioxide. The Environmental Protection Agency has named it a potentially responsible party for at least 18 Superfund toxic waste sites. [1]
Praise
- Weyerhaeuser agreed to a temporary moratorium on logging many key areas of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, which is currently threatened by industrial clearcutting. Source: Natural Resources Defense Council
- Weyerhaeuser has a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. Source: Human Rights Campaign
- The Association of Washington Business presented Weyerhaeuser Co. with the Helping People in Need Award for its “personal, monetary, and in-kind assistance to employees’ families affected by the Hurricane Floyd disaster.” The company and its employees donated over a quarter of a million dollars to those in need. Source: Business Wire, May 25, 2001
Brands & Subsidiaries
- Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company
- Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Development Company (WREDCO)
- Pardee Homes
- iLevel
- Willamette Industries, Inc.
- Domtar
- MacMillan Bloedel Limited
- Weyerhaeuser NR
- Cellulose Fibers