Furniture industry organisation FIRA is organising summits to raise the temperature in the debate over the subsidised use of virgin wood for fuel by electricity generators.
FIRA held an initial meeting on the issue earlier this year attended by representatives of the leading bodies in the furniture and related sectors. These included the British Furniture Manufacturers association, British Contract Furniture Association, British Furniture Confederation and the Wood Panel Industries Federation (WPIF). The British Retail Consortium also had a presence, as did manufacturer Egger and Home Retail Group, owner of Argos and Homebase.
The meeting discussed latest government renewables obligation subsidies for power generators which, it is feared, will further increase their appetite for wood fuel and push up prices for wood-based products used in the furniture sector, notably sheet materials.
“The burning of virgin wood is hitting the furniture industry hard, and is leading to increased costs in a delicate economic climate,” said FIRA chief operating officer Jonny Westbrooke. “Our Biomass Summit discussed how we can restore the balance in timber pricing, by encouraging biomass power in the UK to be produced through burning of recycled wood products or waste wood products created by furniture manufacturers.”
The latest FIRA summit took place yesterday and specifically addressed what measures could be taken to prevent the current cap on renewables subsidies being lifted.
WPIF director-general Alastair Kerr welcomed the growth in the number and range of industries and organisations lobbying against the increased burning of virgin wood to generate electricity.
“From the outset of our own Making Wood Work campaign, our aim has been coalition building, so seeing the message broadening and our concerns being shared by other wood-using industries – and recently I also discussed the topic with TIMCON – is encouraging,” he said. “It’s important that we co-ordinate so that, even though we may have different interests and grievances, we give the same message.”
With the Department of Energy and Climate change due to review the banding of renewables subsidies later this year, Mr Kerr said the time to lobby on the issue is now. “Once it’s been done, the banding will be set for a number of years,” he said.
A DECC spokesperson told TTJ that the government was “very keen to see our wood panel and bioenergy industries coexisting as part of the UK’s low carbon economy”.
“This can be achieved in three main ways,” he said, “firstly, by increasing the supply of sustainable wood and forestry residues available, secondly by improved management of our waste wood, and thirdly by better exploiting other biomass resources such as food waste and perennial energy crops.”
