Certified Timber defined
The definition of Certified Timber is when an independent third party has set environmental standards and then regularly checks they are being met by the business claiming the certification.
The words certification and certified are thrown around a lot when people talk about timber, but what does it all mean? In this blog we will answer this question, as well as explaining how when purchasing certified timber, you’re making a sustainable environmental choice, as you can be sure the timber has been harvested and replanted in a renewable, environmentally sensitive way.
So what is involved in certifying timber?
Firstly, the certification basically means you don’t have to go on the manufacturer’s word that the timber is from a renewable source. If the timber is certified, then an independent body has checked and can verify that the claim is true.
There are two different types of environmental certification used in our industry:
- Forestry Certification and,
- Chain of Custody or CoC Certification.
Forestry Certification ensures forests and plantations used for harvesting timber are healthy, renewable and well managed as well as providing secondary benefits such as helping local communities.
Chain of Custody Certification monitors the wood from these certified forests along the entire supply chain. This involves being able to track a piece of timber from the forest to the mill right through to the timber and hardware store where you buy it from.
With Chain of Custody Certification you can be sure the certified timber decking you are buying has come from a responsibly managed forest or plantation and that it hasn’t been illegally logged or cut from a vulnerable or protected forest.
Timber Certification in Australia
In Australia over 90% of the production forest area is certified by either Responsible Wood (previously the Australian Forestry Standard or AFS), The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) or in our case both.
Here at Timberlink we are the only major Australasian softwood sawmilling company to hold dual environmental certification from both Responsible Wood and the FSC®, so you can be sure all the products we make at our Bell Bay mill are made from certified, renewable Tasmanian plantation pine.
We support these schemes because we believe they play a key role in the global fight against deforestation and illegal logging.
Buy only Tasmanian Certified Timber
By only purchasing certified timber, you are playing an important role, supporting sustainable, renewable Tasmanian plantation pine production as well as mitigating the effects of climate change.
Renewable certified timber is the only mass-produced building material that absorbs more carbon than it releases. Every cubic timber of timber we make, removes 631kg of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere . By comparison, 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from cement production (https://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/10/195/2018/essd-10-195-2018.pdf) and 5% from steel production (http://climate.columbia.edu/files/2012/04/GNCS-Iron-Steel.pdf). Timber is the Ultimate Renewable.
You can read more detail about certification and our environmental credentials in our annual Sustainability Report.
