News
Kronospan goes carbon positive
UK
Published 22.09.09
Two internationally recognised environmental standards, which cement those certified as leaders in sustainability, have been awarded to Kronospan. The producer of high quality wood-based panels and associated products has had its carbon footprint independently measured and certified by BlueGreen Carbon, and can now officially supply Carbon Positive chipboard products. Kronospan has also achieved CARB low formaldehyde accreditation, further demonstrating its uncompromising commitment to the environment.
Kronospan manufactures its panels in the UK using wood sourced from FSC certified sustainable forests and recycled wood to produce MDF, particleboard and melamine faced panels for use in domestic and commercial kitchens, bathrooms and flooring systems. The BlueGreen Carbon standard, awarded for all chipboard products, recognises Kronospan’s carbon mitigation policy which has been in place at its UK manufacturing site for almost a decade.
Iain Ferguson, environmental manager at Kronospan Ltd Chirk, explains: “Over the past 10 years we’ve invested upwards of £15 million in making our processes more environmentally friendly. We looked at how we could use materials differently, cleaned up the materials coming into the factory and removed any contaminants.
“We’ve worked with our whole supply chain to make sure that at every stage of the sourcing process there are consistent quality protocols in place, ultimately encouraging our suppliers to improve the standard of materials sent to us. For this reason we didn’t need any environmental ‘credits’ or to offset any extra carbon to achieve the BlueGreen Carbon standard as our processes were already so sustainable.”
Earlier this year Kronospan was also awarded the CARB accreditation, a US-based standard which recognises manufacturers that produce MDF panels with a far lower content of formaldehyde than the industry standard. Kronospan achieved both phase one and phase two of the accreditation, and MDF panels meeting these criteria are in production for retailers throughout Europe, further improving the company’s sustainability arsenal and complementing it’s carbon positive status.
Iain continues: “As sustainability issues continue to top the specification agenda, more and more customers are asking for proof that our environmental systems are robust. We’ve always had incredibly high sustainability standards, but to have this recognized by official third party organisations reassures our customers that our products and processes operate with the utmost respect for, and minimal possible impact on, the environment.”
For more information
please visit our UK location on www.kronospan.co.uk