Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

UK — Nearly half of birch wood certified by leading sustainability schemes is misidentified and does not come from the labelled country of origin, according to new testing. The analysis raises fears that large quantities of sanctioned wood from Russia and Belarus are still illegally entering Britain. New research by World Forest ID… scrutinised the accuracy of dozens of harvesting-origin claims on birch products, which had almost entirely been approved by FSC and PEFC sustainability schemes. The samples of birch – a popular hardwood used in furniture, kitchens panels and musical instruments – were labelled as originating in Ukraine, Poland, Estonia and Latvia. But tests using the wood’s “chemical fingerprint” showed that 46% of certified samples did not come from the origin on the label. …While the tests did not specify the country where the wood was grown, experts said Russia and Belarus were the only plausible origins.

AUSTRALIA — The timber aisle in your local hardware store may look a little different if the Coalition is successful in next month’s election. As part of its tilt at government the Opposition has promised to introduce country of origin labelling on timber sold by commercial hardware outlets. In Australia there is no requirement for timber products to be labelled with the country they are from. …Opposition forestry spokesperson Jonathon Duniam said the measure would help people make an informed choice. “We should be making sure it is clear, whether it is a product that you pick up at Bunnings or Mitre 10, you can see that is a product that has come from an Australian forest,” he said. …The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) supports the idea, which chief executive Diana Hallam says would be similar to what is in place for food packaging.

Timber construction has long been widely used in North America, Scandinavia and Scotland, but has struggled for traction in England — where houses are typically still built by hand out of bricks and blocks. England’s biggest housebuilders are all now pushing to build more with timber. Behind the shift is a worsening shortage of the skilled labour that the industry will need to meet the government’s ambitious target for 1.5mn new homes by 2029, as well as looming environmental regulations that will demand better insulation and less carbon-intensive materials. Industry remains sceptical that this scale of construction can be achieved without financial help for buyers still squeezed by high mortgage rates, or an easing of lending rules. But it also probably lacks the capacity to build at this rate — the highest since the 1960s — without changing how houses are built.