A Canadian environmental group’s favourite mill has just been idled. Styled and promoted as North America’s first so-called “tree-free” pulp mill, Columbia Pulp in Starbuck, Washington, was idled on February 18 for lack of demand for its product. …Columbia Pulp uses a combination of wheat straw and alfalfa to make wet lap pulp for packaging end-uses. But the demand has not been there. Canopy claimed that such mills use far less water, chemicals, and energy than traditional kraft pulp mills but in Columbia’s case there is no straw-cleaning equipment before its pulping stage; an inadequate washing system; and no equipment to clean up and reuse its process water. In other words, it’s only half a mill. So, any comparison with a wood-pulp mill’s use of energy, chemicals, and water is clearly invalid.
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The building sector is a voracious consumer of primary materials. However, the study of building material use and associated impacts is challenged by the paucity of publicly available data in the field and the heterogeneity of data organization and classification between published studies. This paper makes two main contributions. First, we propose and demonstrate a building material data structure adapted from UniFormat and MasterFormat, two widely used construction classification systems in North America. Second, the dataset included provides fine grained material data for 70 buildings in North America. …The data structure supports investigation into how form and building design are driving material use, opportunities to reduce construction material consumption and better understanding of how materials are used in buildings.
The Ontario of 30 years from now could be full of new places to live. Apartments and rooming houses on every block. Wood-framed buildings 12 storeys tall. Towers around mass transit, including bus stops, even in the most exclusive neighbourhoods. This is the vision put forward in a report by the Ontario government’s 
When Laurie Pitman bought the land where she would build her new home in Oakland, Calif., the former software engineer… opted to go smaller—and greener. Pitman hired an architect and found a contractor who specializes in eco-conscious projects. The team agreed on a Forest Stewardship Council–certified wood and a type of concrete that emits less carbon for the primary materials. …The hot new buzzword here is “zero carbon.” …So those who want to replace resources such as steel and concrete with wood may have to resort to boxing it up and flying it around the globe (unless there happens to be a responsibly managed forest nearby). …The wood-for-metal solution is an example of a carbon offset. Instead of this type of material switch, some developers opt to purchase credits in exchange for proceeding with a building process that has a higher carbon price tag.
A key player in insurance solutions for construction, Zurich North America is expanding coverage offerings to commercial projects using mass timber. …The company will offer up $50 million insurance capacity to qualified customers and make Mass Timber Builders Risk available for project-specific coverage or under a Master Builders Risk program. “We designed [the] proposition based on input from a wide range of insurance brokers,” says Zurich’s Patrick McBride. “We devised a solution to meet the demands of an increasingly popular segment of the construction market. We expect to see strong momentum behind [mass timber] adoption over the next several years and are aligning offerings to ensure we can enable clients to integrate it into their operations.” Mass timber is stronger, more versatile and more durable than light-frame wood, which is one reason Zurich NA, unlike many insurance providers, differentiates the classes in its underwriting, he adds.
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Eligible project teams may now submit proposals for the 
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…The surging demand for plywood in Charlotte’s booming homebuilding industry has led to the arrest of four men, who authorities accuse of operating a black market plywood ring that preyed on residential construction sites. New filings in the Charlotte federal courts identify the defendants as brothers Pablo Morales Hernandez and Rafael De Jesus Morales Hernandez, along with Renato Hernandez Montes and Jose Saul Morales Veneroso, all of Charlotte. They are each charged with interstate transportation of stolen property conspiracy. All are being held in the Mecklenburg County jail. …The theft of lumber off construction sites has become a national problem, particularly after the price of plywood doubled and tripled beginning last spring. …plywood and other lumber products are the new coin of the realm for a black market… High-growth areas in the Southeast and the West appear to be popular targets.
A new university study has dispelled the myth of a limit on number of recycling loops for fibre based packaging. Fibre-based packaging material – paper, board, cartonboard and folding boxes – can be recycled more than 25 times with little to no loss of integrity, according to latest, independent research. The 
