Sourcing Of Timber - FSC & PEFC

Introduction;

At Tkstairs we take our responsibility for renewable timber seriously, like most manufacturers of timber products we got into staircase manufacturing because we love working with timber, it is important to the future of our business and our industry that timber is sourced from sustainable locations.

As a responsible manufacturer we make sure that all our timber is sourced from sustainable suppliers and locations, you can tell if timber is sustainable by whether or not it is PEFC or FSC certified.

There are two organisations which certify that timber coming into the UK is certified.

FSC and PEFC what’s the difference?;

PEFC;

PEFC - The Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification, are an international non-profit non-governmental organisation.

The PEFC are popular with smaller forest owners, and certify more than 300 million ha of forest, making it larger in terms of the number of ha covered than the FSC. It is based in Geneva Switzerland and was founded in 1999.

Currently, much of our timber is PEFC certified we are able to provide proof of compliance on request.

FSC;

FSC - The Forest Stewardship Council, is an international non-profit organisation founded in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests.

This includes the animals that call the forests managed by the FSC their home, which is beyond the scope of PEFC. The FSC also runs a chain of management system.

Chain of custody allows manufacturers and consumers identify, purchase and use timber, paper and other products which have come from well managed forests or alternatively recycled materials.

Currently, much of our timber is FSC certified we are able to provide proof of compliance on request.

Why does it matter?;

The governments own statisctics have shown that around one million cubic meters of illegal timber was brought into the United Kingdom in 2014. Illegal timber contributes to deforestation which destroys the natural habitat of the indigenous species as well as contributes to around 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

These reasons mean that we ensure that all timber we purchase comes from a specified sustainable source which helps preserve the worlds forests and the creatures that reside within them.