The LBC v4.0 materials imperatives for Responsible Materials (Core) & Responsible Sourcing require a majority of wood materials (by cost) to be FSC. Sure. But what is - or isn't - considered wood? The Clarification page for the imperative's scope and a key definition poses a perplexing conundrum:
"All wood included in the Materials Petal Scope (see above) requires FSC Chain of Custody (COC) or documentation that the wood is salvaged, intentionally harvested on-site or low risk. This includes permanently installed wood blocking, framing, structural wood members, finished wood products, and systems furniture.
Temporary wood or wood-containing materials are not within scope and do not require documentation...."
But further down the Clarifications page it says:
"WOOD CONTAINING PRODUCTS
The wood portion of wood containing products installed in the project must be included in the wood compliance calculations...."
Glossary definition:
"Wood Containing Product
Any product containing wood at greater than or equal to 5-10% by weight or characterized by obvious visual wood components. The wood portion of wood containing products must be included in FSC wood calculations."
Some questions:
1. Do you think the intent is to include or exclude "wood containing products in the imperative scope & calculations? Is it just a typo, since in one place it says they are excluded, but two places say "included?"
2. What does "containing wood" really mean - solid wood? sawdust? wood pulp...?
Let's imagine we have many fabric covered acoustic panels that have a plywood backing. No visually obvious wood, but more than 10% is solid wood by weight. Is that wood included within the scope of wood-needing-to-be-FSC?
Does "wood containing products" include products using wood fiber, pulp, dust such as:
- Cellulose insulation (80% recycled paper),
- Plastic laminate/ HPL (60% kraft paper),
- Linoleum (25% wood flour),
- Composite decking (some are 40-60% wood fiber)...
3. And lastly... has anyone seen a position on cork? Has anyone seen it included as "wood" for the LBC FSC requirements?
It's bark, harvested every 9 years, tree lives on... the FSC standard has a list of tree species within it's scope, and doesn't include cork. The European Timber Regulation excludes cork, but there are a few FSC certified cork forests in Spain/ Portugal, and very few FSC cork products seem to be available.
We recently submitted a question to the LBC Dialogue regarding cork, but these other questions just came up. Still reading? Thanks for your interest!
