Carbon Footprint of Hardwood

Many people do not appreciate the environmental benefits of using hardwood timber products.

With responsible sourcing processes and modern manufacturing capability, hardwood timber provides an environmentally friendly option that steel and plastic cannot compete with.

Aluminium production creates severe environmental impact through bauxite mining and over 5 times the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) per tonne of material than hardwood. Concrete is one of the most polluting materials on earth, as the toxic cement production processes are a primary contributor to greenhouse gases. Steel and plastic produce significant CO2 during their creation.

Utilising hardwood timber however results in a negative carbon footprint (the total amount of carbon taken from the air in versus released).

To fully understand why hardwood timber is the right choice, we start at the beginning.

The Carbon Cycle

Trees utilise rainwater and sunlight via photosynthesis to fuel their growth, absorbing CO2 which is broken down releasing oxygen into the atmosphere, with the carbon being utilised to build the biomass of the tree (the wood and leaves).

During their growth, trees absorb a considerable amount of carbon, and this is only released if the tree dies and decomposes or is burnt (forest fires or utilised for fuel). Trees effectively act as a sponge, soaking up carbon which may be released later, but processing trees for timber (after they have passed peak carbon absorbtion rate) intervenes in this cycle preventing that release.

Processing & Transporation

While some carbon is created for the processing of the trees into timber, and the subsequent transportation, it is an insignificant amount compared to both theprocessing of alternative materials and to the amount absorbed by the intial growth of the tree.

Carbon Stores

Because of the process of absorbing carbon, when timber is utilised in ways that prevent the release of the carbon, such as the use in long-term building or manufacturing of long-life products such as hardwood street furniture, the timber effectively becomes a permanent storage medium for the carbon
contained within.

Tree Planting Programmes

To process timber, it is unavoidable that we must remove trees from forests. This is why responsible forestry, managed by organisations such as the FSC, typically ensure that upto 5 trees are planted for each tree that is removed.

Not only does this planting prevent deforestation through avoiding use of cleared forests as new agricultural land, but utilising fast growing tree species can allow the creation of a 30 year planting and farming schedule ensuring the forest is sustainable for generations.

Forests produce large volumes of timber in a fully sustainable manner, with a negative carbon footprint.

The Woodscape Promise

Woodscape only utilise timber from sustainably managed sources, and maintain the highest levels of scrutiny via our FSC Chain of Custody Certification.

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