For the first time in the UK, PEFC-certified chipwood from a privately-owned Group scheme from Scottish Woodlands will be delivered to a leading manufacturer of timber products.
The chipwood will be delivered to panel producer Egger’s Hexham plant.
“As a result of increasing demand for PEFC-certified chipboard from our customers, we required a guaranteed supply of PEFC-certified roundwood,” said John Paterson, wood purchasing manager at Egger UK.
Scottish Woodlands Ltd responded to Egger’s request by obtaining PEFC chain of custody certification.
The growth in homegrown UK-sourced timber and wood products has been growing quickly since 2010, when over a million hectares of UK forests were dual certified as PEFC and FSC under the United Kingdom Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS).
This far-reaching development includes all the Forestry Commission forests in England, Scotland and Wales and some 500 privately-owned forest estates, including a number in Northern Ireland, managed through the Scottish Woodlands and UPM Tilhill forest group certification schemes.
Scottish Woodlands delivers more than 750,000 tonnes of timber per year into UK sawmillers. Its annual sales in 2010 exceeded £46m and PEFC-certified UK timber is set to become a key component.
