September 9th, 2008 - Greenpeace report supports FSC OSB use in Europe
September 9th, 2008 - Greenpeace report supports FSC OSB use in Europe

MENTANGAI, KAPUAS, INDONESIA.
Guni, a fisherman steers his boat through a drainage channel in recently cleared rainforest, the forest is being cleared for palm oil plantations. Deforestation rates in Indonesia are amongst the highest in the world and according to recent estimates Indonesia is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the United States, mainly due to the destruction of peatland forests.
 

Did you know? The UK is Europe’s largest user of plywood and is the third largest importer of illegal timber in the world.

For further information, visit www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/setting-a-new-standard-plywood-report.

Greenpeace has made a strong environmental case for the UK construction industry to use sustainable products like Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) - OSB as a cost-effective alternative to illegal plywood.

Its latest report, ‘Setting a new standard: alternatives to unsustainable plywood in the UK construction industry’, is a practical guide for companies wanting to avoid the use of illegal plywood on construction sites.

The report shows that there is no technical reason why unsustainable tropical hardwood plywood cannot be replaced with alternatives such as Forest Stewardship Council-certified (FSC) OSB, which can be locally sourced, competitively priced and is already readily available on the UK market.

The report is welcomed by Norbord’s Environmental, Health & Safety Director Steve Roebuck who sees it as a strong endorsement for using sustainable products like Norbord’s FSC–certified SterlingOSB.

“At Norbord, we ensure that all of the wood used in our manufacturing processes is sourced from sustainably-managed sources. In Europe, all fibre is FSC-certified.

“Also, all our European products are CE-certified which means they are ‘fit for purpose’. However, today we are seeing plywood entering the UK that has been questionably CE-marked and this is currently being investigated by trading Standards,” he added.

Greenpeace said that, despite the best efforts of some UK construction companies, the majority of the sector continues to use illegal and unsustainable plywood. This is often manufactured in China, and commonly comes from the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Brazil.

The report highlights a number of prestigious government refurbishments that have used illegal and unsustainable plywood in the past, despite government promises to only purchase timber from legal and sustainable sources.

Greenpeace Forest Campaigner, Mariana Paoli, said: “Tropical forests are being destroyed to make way for throw-away products like plywood. It’s time for architects, specifiers and construction companies to clean up their act and we hope this report will provide the motivation for them to take action on this issue.”

Greenpeace is pushing the UK Government and the European Union to adopt legislation which would make it illegal for companies to buy timber products not coming from legal and well-managed forests.

Steve Roebuck concluded, “We are very supportive of the Greenpeace report as we have been raising the issue with the government about the negative effects of non-sustainable timber logging and illegal plywood.”