As of July 1st 2016 Sequal Lumber moved from being rated FSC MIXED to FSC 100%. This change has been driven by our customers need to use sustainably grown lumber in order to keep and open up new markets.
Sequal Lumber has been FSC certified for many years and for a lot of reasons moving to FSC 100% was inevitable. Making the change however is not simple, and at the time of writing this blog we are the only 100% FSC certified lumber mill in New Zealand.
Moving to FSC 100% requires that all our log suppliers are also FSC certified. Whilst all the larger suppliers are FSC certified, many of the smaller suppliers are not. To achieve FSC 100% Sequal lumber has worked with suppliers to consolidate it’s log supply base.
Our first customer to require FSC 100% certification was an Ikea manufacturer in Vietnam, however since then, many customers from across Asia have changed the supply requirements as well.
Being sustainable and supplying a sustainable wood fibre to the global market is very important for us. Lumber consumption for furniture is massive globally, and much of it is harvested from forests that won’t be replaced. Also, the potential for FSC 100% lumber to replace concrete and steel (massive producers of CO2) in building construction is huge. For China, who build almost exclusively from concreate and steel, will shortly ratify new building codes that will enable the development of multi-level buildings using wood.
The benefits of building and growing with wood are more then just a much lower production of CO2. Wood also stores carbon, allowing us to carbon sink as we urbanise. Wooden construction using the likes of CLT, is also lighter (meaning less foundational work needed) and faster to erect.
All-in-all sustainably grown FSC lumber form New Zealand has huge potential and is something we are very passionate about.
For supply of 100% FSC lumber please contact us here.