retailer is helping to support individuals and communities in Indonesia through a tree-planting scheme.

James Barker, managing director of Barker and Stonehouse, personally helped to set up the Trees4Trees project.

The firm has provided finance, support and marketing advice to the not-for-profit community re-forestation programme.

The scheme has supplied 150,000 saplings with a further 50,000 to be distributed later this year.

It is intended to supply 100,000 saplings a year to help replace the timber felled for furniture making.

Trees4Trees is deliberately targeting individuals and communities, giving them ownership of potentially valuable trees.

Saplings such as mango, teak and mahogany are being distributed, along with help and advice on how to grow them.

After four or five years, mango saplings will provide fruit which can be eaten or sold. However, after 15 years the tree matures and the fruit is not so good.

In the past, the trees would normally have been cut down and used as firewood, but the scheme is showing how they could be sold as valuable timber for furniture making.

Barker and Stonehouse was the first UK retailer to stock products from the Trees4Trees range.

It is now promoting the range to a further 120 independent retailers through Baker Bedford – a UK wholesaler which was formerly part of the Barker and Stonehouse Group – and has also just broken in to America, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Mr Barker, 41, wants Trees4Trees to become a widely-recognised ethical brand.

He said: “For too long, ethically sourced furniture has been prohibitively expensive, especially to the independent and small retailer market.”

The programme is also developing a system where the purchaser can trace the trees used in the piece of furniture through a unique reference number, high-tech GPS technology and internet satellite monitoring system.

Simon Greenaway, programme founder and reforestation expert, said: “Barker and Stonehouse have been instrumental in bringing Trees4Trees to reality and bringing these products to the UK market.

“Trees4Trees exists to make a real difference to communities in Indonesia while offering a credible ethical badge to consumers.”

Mr Barker is the third generation to run the company, which today has eight stores and three warehouses between Newcastle and Nottingham.

Its head office is in Middlesbrough.

The company has also introduced a furniture recycling scheme in conjunction with Hartepool charity, Owton Fens Community Association.

It has proved so popular that OFCA, which provides work and skills to the long-term unemployed, has invested £100,000 in new machinery.