DHA eNews - Builders Warned Of Substandard Plywood From Brazil
The Canada Border Services Agency has begun an investigation to determine whether decorative and other non-structural plywood originating in or exported from China is being sold at unfair prices in Canada, based on a complaint filed by the Canadian Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal and CBSA will determine whether these imports are harming Canadian producers and if these imports are being sold in Canada at unfair or subsidized prices. Their decisions will be released in August and September.
Product advisories warning against buying or selling substandard, unsafe plywood from Brazil have been sent to U.S. importers and building code and homebuilder associations. The warnings are the result of a motion filed by a coalition of ten U.S. plywood companies against two licensing agencies, TPI and PFS-TECO, who certified the plywood as safe. U.S. tests showed massive failure rates.
The beautiful five-star Green Spa Hotel MalisGarten in Zell am Ziller, Austria is made entirely of wood. It features a stunning outside facade and gorgeous wood panels and flooring. Even the stairwells and lift shafts are made of solid wood.
Several leaders in the forest products industry published statements in support of strengthening our community: Mark Sutton of International Paper to his global team, shared on Twitter; John Williams of Domtar, a public message on inclusion, diversity, and respect; Christian Fischer of Georgia Pacific, a pledge to support the Atlanta Committee for Progress in favor of positive change and a just society; Steve Voorhees of Westrock, a video address on LinkedIn; and David Taylor of Proctor & Gamble, in an open letter to colleagues.
The Hardwood Forestry Fund has approved a grant to the Indiana Division of Forestry for the Morgan-Monroe Project. The project will create an educational site to demonstrate how to enrich a degraded stand of an unproductive species to transform it into producing high-quality hardwoods.
The American Wood Council released seven updated Environmental Product Declarations to be used to determine the environmental footprint of key products: lumber, plywood, oriented strand board, laminated veneer lumber, I-joists, and glued laminated timber.
Decorative Hardwoods Association filed comments on the EPA's Draft Scope of the Risk Evaluation of Formaldehyde supporting the exclusion of composite wood panels, which are already regulated by the EPA; clarification of the term "panel" to exclude laminated products and finished goods made with composite wood panels that are already regulated by the EPA; and exclusion of all solid wood.
According to a recent survey, the U.S. Forest Service has marked and illegally sold thousands of trees from the Daniel Boone National Forest. Kentucky Heartwood Director Jim Scheff noticed something off while on a hike in the forest. After returning to carefully survey the area, he concluded that an additional 6,000 - 20,000 trees had or would be cut down, far in excess of what was approved in a 2017 agreement.
OSU’s College of Forestry is the new home of a forensics lab that fights timber crime, a $1 billion annual problem for the U.S. forest products industry. Lab scientists use specialized mass spectrometry for wood species identification to determine if wood products are what they are purported to be.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Charleston seized a lumber shipment from Cameroon containing dangerous Kalotermitidae termites. After fumigation, the container was shipped back to Cameroon.
A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory study predicts that forests of shorter, younger trees will be the result of rising temperatures and carbon dioxide. Other factors that contribute to this change are severe wildfires, drought, and wind damage.
Deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil has grown 83% vs. one year ago. Just one of the negative consequences: researchers predict a severe fire season.
Forest products capture carbon, too. In the U.S., when combined, they capture 15% of U.S. emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Source: American Forests