Timberlink Achieves Dual Environmental Certifications

Timberlink has become the first major Australian Sawmilling operation to achieve both the AFS (Australian Forestry Standard)/PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) and the FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) environmental certifications. Demonstrating a commitment to the legal, ethical and sustainable sourcing of timber and strongly supporting the forestry certification schemes that provide key assurances to the market.

Timberlinks two Australian mills, Tarpeena in South Australia and Bell Bay in Tasmania, recently achieved FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) certification on solid wood. This is in addition to the AFS (Australian Forestry Standard)/PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) certifications already held by the Australian sites, which our business intends to maintain, along with the FSC certification already held for woodchips. No other major Australian sawmilling business holds both FSC and AFS/PEFC certification, something we are justifiably proud of.

The decision to add to the company’s Australian certifications was made for two main reasons. Firstly, we only ever use plantation grown Radiata Pine, most of which originates from FSC certified plantations. Secondly, market demand for certified timber has been grown steadily in recent years, enabling us to meet our customers’ needs, be they for FSC or AFS/PEFC certified timber.

The legal and ethical sourcing of timber is of immense importance to us. Over 97% of our Australian log intake is certified as either FSC or AFS/PEFC both, with the remainder strictly controlled through a Due Diligence System. The traceability of this certified timber through the production, distribution and installation stages is equally important, providing assurance to the end user that their timber has been legally sourced.

Manufacturing timber products to meet our customers’ needs is also important to us. Market demand for certified timber is being driven primarily by the commercial market, which increasingly needs to meet the environmental building requirements required by the Green Building Council Australia (GBCA) and the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC).

With our New Zealand mill in Blenheim already FSC certified, the move to certify our Australian mills makes us the only Australasian sawmilling business to hold FSC certification for solid wood products across all its sawmills – providing our customers with one certification across all Timberlink products.

Our FSC® and AFS/PEFC certificates are available for download from the Timberlink Australia and Timberlink New Zealand websites.