New Zealand timber products treated without the heavy metals copper and chrome are experiencing a surge in demand, according to Access Pacific Ltd (APL).
The mounting demand for GreenGuard products, preserved with a boron-based treatment, has led APL to announce a tripling of its available capacity. It will use a larger plant to enable increased production levels and provide the market with volumes of up to 7,000m³ per month.
APL, whose export markets range from Asia to Africa, is also looking to produce and supply a wider range of New Zealand natural exterior woods in the future.
The company is billing itself as at the forefront of low impact wood preservation, saying its treatment process uses only 10% of the water typically used in traditional pressure treatments. It says the reduced water demand and resulting reduced weight in the treated timber combined to provide a saving in resources and a cut in transport related emissions.
GreenGuard contains boron, the fungicide azole and insect repellent permethrin.
