Criminalisation of Illegal Timber Underlines Need for Responsible Sourcing

The announcement is part of a raft of environmental measures that the new coalition government believe is necessary to fulfil their joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy. It seeks to address the issue that the UK is the world’s third largest importer of illegal timber and secondly it underlines the need for assured responsible sourcing of construction materials.

Despite a series of commitments and voluntary agreements it is estimated that the UK imports some 3.2 million cubic metres of stolen timber a year. This makes the UK the largest importer of illegal timber in the EU and the third largest in the world after China and Japan. Currently, the UK government merely requires that its departments and agencies ‘actively seek’ to source legal and sustainable timber but weak guidelines mean that the policy is poorly implemented.

The UK construction industry is often hoodwinked into buying and using illegal timber. Forest Stewardship Council (FCS) certified timber is the only recognised certification scheme. To prove that it is FSC certified, a supplier’s delivery note and invoice should say so and should have a FSC ‘chain of custody’ reference number. Problems arise if illegal timber is mixed and hidden with certified timber or when a supplier is FSC-certified but the timber is not. Claims that the company has FSC chain of custody does not automatically mean that the timber is FSC certified.

“The assurance of sustainable and responsible sourcing of timber can be very difficult due to its being sourced from countries which do not properly oversee certification requirements or have properly accredited certification arrangements”, explained Mackenzie. “Evidence of sustainable chain of custody must include the retailer, importer, processor, forest company and forest source. That chain has many links that may be subject to abuse.”

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The transportation of raw materials often from many thousands of miles of away has significant environmental consequences. Timber is often imported from as far away as Canada whilst structural steel relies on the importation of raw materials, notably iron ore from Brazil. Research from the Institute for Physics and Atmosphere in Wessling, Germany, found that the annual CO2 emissions from shipping ranged from 600 to 800 million tonnes. This represents 55 per cent of the global total. CO2 emissions from shipping are double than those of aviation and are predicted to increase by a further 75 percent over the next 15 – 20 years.

In terms of responsible sourcing, the reinforced concrete is leading other construction materials. UK manufactured reinforcement is made from 100 percent recycled scrap metal. At the end of its life, all reinforcing steel can be recovered and recycled. In addition, most major concrete companies, including Aggregate Industries, Lafarge, Cemex, Tarmac and Hanson, have gained accreditation to BES 6001 Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products. The concrete industry is the first to link its sustainable construction strategy to BES 6001 and has produced guidance that supports the implementation of the standard. Designers can easily source accredited material through concrete and reinforcing steel suppliers certified to BES 6001 and so gain maximum credits in sustainability assessment tools such as the Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM. BAR has also signed up to the concrete industry’s Sustainable Construction Strategy. This pan-industry agreement demands a commitment to the achievement of set environmental targets and the development of industry performance indicators including the responsible sourcing of materials.

“The level of illegal timber being imported into the UK underlines the difficulty of assuring responsible sourcing of timber and the need for criminal legislation. Responsible sourcing of construction products is an increasingly important issue for specifiers and clients. Of all construction products, reinforced concrete is best placed to deliver the highest level of responsible sourcing due to local availability, short supply chains and externally accredited management systems”, said Mackenzie.

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