In the construction industry, timber is seen as one of the most sustainable construction materials available. Right?
Bob Tee, Timber Products Manager, looks at 3 ways to increase the sustainability of your timber use.
With organisations like FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) and PEFC™ (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification™), there is no excuse for not specifying certified timber.
By using certified timber, you are supporting sustainably run forests that replant trees as they are felled. It is easier than ever to get sustainable timber and to find alternatives for timber that may not be certified.
At Elliotts, our timber supply is either FSC® or PEFC™ certified.
Many projects specify certified timber for the build but forget about the temporary works. Think about the products you are using during construction – are they FSC® or PEFC™ certified? If you put effort into sourcing sustainable products for the build, the same should go for products you use for temporary works.
It may be that you need to substitute some timber products to achieve this – e.g. switch plywood for OSB. To make this even more sustainable, could you reuse these materials for the same purpose on your next job?
Left over materials at the end of a job is inevitable. If these materials cannot be used on your next job, then consider sending them to a local recycling project. Timber sent to recycling projects is turned into furniture or made available to buy in their raw state. This saves extra waste going to landfill.
Some projects, like the Southampton Wood Recycling Project, will even come and collect the timber depending on the location. More recycling groups can be found here.
We have huge stocks of timber available from all our merchant branches.
