Eddie van der Straeten, an adviser to the wood-based panels industry for approaching half a century, died on January 26 following a cycling accident.
Mr van der Straeten served on the technical committees of successive associations in the wood-based panels sector for over 40 years. During that time he was also chairman of the BSI technical committee for wood-based panels, bringing invaluable expertise from his career in the chemical industry.
Mr van der Straeten was also the UK’s officially appointed leader in the European (CEN) and ISO standards forums for the wood-based panels sector, and his imprint is on many of the public standards now used by this industry throughout Europe and further afield. He was a staunch opponent of over-complex regulatory solutions.
