To prevent deforestation and comply with the increasing demand for wood products, look no further than Platowood! Platowood platonises fast-growing wood types into aesthetic, durable and high-quality wood products with a long lifetime. In this way, Platowood contributes to the preservation of tropical forests. Platowood considers the different facets that make up ‘sustainability’.
The extraction and large-scale production of raw materials have an enormous impact on the environment, the natural landscape and liveability of a region. For example, consider erosion, water and soil pollution, land rights, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and depletion of agricultural land. In comparison, wood is very environmentally friendly: it is a renewable resource, suitable for reuse and the production requires relatively little fossil fuels. Furthermore, it is completely biodegradable.
Platowood uses fast-growing wood from sustainably managed forests. The trees used by Platowood can be harvested after 30 years, while the growth time of tropical hardwood exceeds its useful life. By harvesting fast-growing and naturally less-sustainable trees (like Fraké), the biodiversity of the forest is maintained. Platowood's platonising process is exceptionally suitable to, amongst other things, give the fast-growing. Fraké a longer lifetime and better dimensional stability.
Sustainable forest management means sensible and close-to-nature harvesting that does not jeopardise the conservation of the forest. Biodiversity, working conditions for forest workers and the rights of forest inhabitants are all taken into consideration. Platowood considers these social and ecological aspects to be very important. To assess these aspects, Platowood personally goes over to the sawmills to buy the wood.
Certificates provide a guarantee that the wood originates from sustainably managed forests. By buying these certified and therefore demonstrably sustainably produced wood products, we directly contribute to the preservation and sustainable management of these forests. Platowood's commendations include the FSC and OLB certificates, as well as the KOMO quality label.
Another benefit of sustainable forest management is that these forests have more efficient CO2 storage than forests left in their natural state. Young trees undergoing significant growth absorb more CO2 than fully grown trees, which eventually die and rot, after which they release the retained CO2. In sustainably managed forests, only a limited number of trees are cut down, which are then replaced by new and young trees that also absorb CO2.
Research has shown that about 0.9 tonnes of CO2 is stored for every cubic metre of wood. This remains stored during the lifetime of a tree, the lifetime of the wood product and subsequently through reuse and recycling.
Studies have shown that the large-scale use of wood as a raw material is an efficient method to decrease CO2 content in the atmosphere. Besides CO2 storage, wood can replace other materials with CO2-intensive manufacturing processes, such as concrete, metal or plastic.