Hardwood suppliers can help joinery companies reduce waste by supplying them with materials that are more sensitive to their size requirements, a meeting of the London Hardwood Club heard on March 10.
Guest speakers Ian Purkis, Jeld-Wen UK technical director and British Woodworking Federation president, and Pauline Kelly, director of joiner EA Higginson & Co Ltd and a former BWF president, told the meeting of 30 hardwood traders that joinery companies were anxious to reduce waste and recycle more to further improve their products’ environmental profiles.
They said wood product suppliers were increasingly being invited to express the environmental credentials of their products in terms of whole-life costing, enabling comparison with competing products.
But while wood could make impeccable front-end environmental claims, further progress could be achieved by focusing on improving downstream elements of the life cycle.
Equally, joiners could be expected to specify engineered wood in specific dimensions, make use of smaller pieces of wood for component parts and reuse products where possible.
The speakers made clear that chain of custody certification was becoming a regular requirement of joinery manufacturers’ mass-market customers and that interest expressed by European buyers was growing.
