EGGER’s chipboard products go on to be used in a host of everyday items, including cupboards and doors in kitchens; wardrobes and units in bedrooms; desks and drawers in offices; furniture and wall panelling in hotels; counters and shelving in shops and structural flooring in the
house-building industry.
The EGGER group, whose headquarters are in Austria, have held FSC certification since 2009 (UK Certficates: SGS-FM/COC-010252 / TT-COC-001129). The EGGER Forestry FSC group scheme was created in 2014 and encompasses 10 sites across northern England and Scotland.
After introductions at the start of our visit, a lively discussion ensued, allowing both parties to outline recent developments and key challenges and opportunities. Ross Chapman, EGGER Assistant Wood Purchasing Manager, spoke about the benefits of certification:
“As one of Europe’s largest manufacturer of wood-based materials, the EGGER Group takes its corporate social responsibilities seriously.
‘Our key raw material is of course wood, a renewable and natural resource, but one that needs to be carefully and sustainably managed. Credible forest certification schemes such as FSC gives us that absolute assurance that the wood that we procure and use in our plants is sustainable, legal and ethically sourced. FSC certified products are in high demand within the furniture, specification and construction industries (basically anyone that uses wood!), meaning that in order to win and maintain market share, the EGGER Group have to be FSC (and PEFC) Certified.
We were keen to listen to EGGER’s experiences of certification in practice, both from forest management and chain of custody perspectives, and they had some interesting insights to share in terms of regional variation:
‘Over the last 5 or 6 years we have seen a trend for some timber producing estates stepping out of FSC – particularly in North East England and into Eastern Scotland. Unsurprisingly this has led to a bit of a geographical imbalance of certified supply between the east and the west.
‘There are several reasons for growers moving away from FSC, and as an industry we can understand and be sympathetic to these. However, simple economics dictate that the demand for FSC products is here to stay, meaning that non-certified and controlled wood will increasingly become the less desirable and therefore a less valuable commodity.
‘That said – it is also vital for FSC UK and by extension FSC International to listen to growers, and all stakeholders in the supply chain to help ensure we have an increase rather than decrease in certified volumes in the East.”, said Ross Chapman.
Rachel Hembery, FSC UK Business Advisor, explained her role as primary trainer for the organisation and outlined her work to redevelop our online training offering, which was welcomed by EGGER.
‘It would be fair to say, whether you hold an FM certificate or a CoC certificate, you need full buy-in by all staff who are involved to make it work, and the first step in doing this is to get a decent level of training.
‘It is encouraging to hear that FSC UK will soon be able to offer bespoke training face to face or online, and the idea has been well received amongst our key Forest Certification staff.
‘We aim to refresh training every two years, and in the past we have used various trainers from certification bodies, in-house, and independents, to varying levels of success.”, said Ross
The FSC UK team were shown around EGGER’s manufacturing plant before visiting Winnows Hill, a primarily Sitka Spruce plantation, managed under their FSC group scheme. The site presents some specific, although not uncommon, challenges including predator and pest control and unauthorised activity. The presence of a byway open to all traffic (BOAT) is a major contributor to the latter and entails particular public access requirements. Biodiversity has been increased by the creation of a large pond, which attracts palmate and greater crested newts, frogs, toads, ducks, common blue and small red darter damselflies and common hawker dragonflies. Wildlife cameras around the forest serve to highlight the presence not only of resident animals but also of visiting humans.
Thank you to EGGER for hosting our visit and showing us your products all the way from forest, to manufacture and dispatch. Great to see FSC certification in action!
This news article was taken from our bi-monthly newsletter Forest Matters. This month's edition contains many other interesting features that you can read by clicking here.