Inwood Enews February 2010

Brits revive wood campaign

It was the biggest generic promotion campaign ever undertaken by the UK timber industry, and for nearly 10 years wood for good spread the sustainable construction and climate change mitigation messages like no other.

Wood-plastic gains more ground

It might come in the form of a pencil that apparently lasts twice as long as a conventional wooden one, or as cladding with its own integrated extruded polystyrene insulation.

Either way, the march of wood-plastic composites (WPC) continues to gather pace, as happy delegates heard at the January conference of the German WPC Congress in Cologne.

Burden of proof

The New Zealand and Australian governments continue to posture about ‘stolen’ wood and threaten legislation to prevent its importation. But the real action is happening in Europe where the future of the entire wood trade could be determined by hardliners wanting tougher regulations.

It is one of the hottest environmental potatoes around, and if the final result is as many European countries and the green lobby would have it, the international trade in legitimate wood products is in for a very tough time.

Eco-brands missing the mark

It seems timber-related environmental trust marks like FSC have a long way to go when it comes to consumer awareness – particularly in Australia.

According to recent research commissioned by Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), only 5% of the population is aware of FSC, 2% AFS (Australian Forestry Standard) and about 1% PEFC.