TTJ: HOW HAS BUSINESS BEEN FOR THE SWEDISH WOOD PRESERVATION SECTOR RECENTLY?
Fredrik Westin: Business has been surprisingly resilient, especially compared with the broader construction and housing sector and the general economic cycle. A key reason is that consumers – the largest user group for treated wood – have continued to invest disposable income in outdoor living projects. Also, several major investments have been made in recent years, particularly in production capacity and technology. The main trends are increased automation and adoption of hot oil double treatment.
TTJ: HAVE THERE BEEN ANY PARTICULAR CHALLENGES FOR THE SECTOR RECENTLY?
FW: The ongoing challenge is misconceptions about treated wood in relation to environment and health, which limits the full potential of our industry. To address this, we work actively to provide accurate information on product properties, recycling, and sustainable waste management – with education and fact-based communication as key tools. At the same time, EU regulation brings important opportunities. A harmonised European market with equal standards for production and products could significantly expand our market and create new business opportunities. The implementation process is, however, slow and sometimes inconsistent.
TTJ: YOUR MEMBERS SUPPLY TREATED TIMBER TO THE UK, IS THERE CONCERN ABOUT UK DIVERGENCE FROM EU REGULATION AND STANDARDS?
FW: We are very much in favour of an open market and common standards across borders and there is now a process between the UK and the EU to come closer again and remove obstacles to trade. We hope that process continues.
TTJ: WHAT IS DRIVING THE ADOPTION OF HOT OIL DOUBLE TREATMENT BY SWPA MEMBERS?
FW: It’s a process dating back to the 60s and best known under the Royale label, but it complements latest copperbased preservatives and has performance, environmental and aesthetic benefits. The timber undergoes the normal full-cell pressure treatment, then the water is evaporated out of the wood with hot oil which gives a dry core and delivers a surface treatment that reduces leaching and cracking. It’s popular for public projects and its brown colour suits applications such as cladding and fencing. It is more expensive, but this is offset by the fact that there is no additional cost for surface treatment, and the timber is zero maintenance for 15 years. It’s a question of getting this message across and convincing consumers to pay more.
Concerns over the flammability of hot-oil treated timber – in its standard form it can ignite more quickly and burn with more energy – are also being allayed with the use of oils developed as integral fire retardant.
Further variants of this treatment are being developed by Swedish companies, such as Linax from Bitus.
TTJ: YOU BELIEVE THE TIMBER TREATMENT SECTOR CAN NOW CAPITALISE ON THE TRANSITION TO A SUSTAINABLE, LOW CARBON, CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
FW: Yes, we see the EU Circular Economy Package and the Construction Products Regulation supporting use of quality wood products and this could have a major positive impact on our industry. We are exploring how our products fit into a circular economy, and how the industry can actively support the transition. Treated wood already offers a lowcarbon, bio-based option – but there is room to improve further.
One area of focus is the end-of-life phase. Today most treated wood waste is incinerated for energy recovery. We see potential to increase reuse and recycling so that more value than just energy is retained. For instance, the technology is there for chipping treated wood and extracting the copper so it can be sold and the clean chips used for fibreboard. It’s now a question of growing demand for these materials and increasing process cost efficiency.
The circular economy is based on using materials multiple times in different applications, so we have to push the concept of cascading use of wood – using it in different forms before burning the residue for energy. There are probably 20 different technologies for cascading use of treated timber. Some are very innovative and may be not realistic, but others are viable. When it comes to incineration, there are options too. Burning the wood and extracting copper from the ashes, for instance, and low oxygen incineration to produce biochar as a soil improver.
TTJ: DO YOU SEE A POTENTIAL ROLE FOR THE TIMBER TRADE AND THE TREATMENT SECTOR MANAGING THE SECONDARY TIMBER USE SUPPLY CHAIN?
FW: Currently wood goes to, for example, the construction industry and at the end of the building’s life is generally taken away by waste management companies to be incinerated. But in a circular economy there will be a lot more secondary raw material in the market, and there are likely to be more controls on incineration. It makes sense for companies that understand the material and its potential to take on this circular wood business. They have the knowledge to get most value out of the material.
TTJ: WHAT DEVELOPMENTS HAVE THERE BEEN IN SWPA MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION?
FW: We’re currently developing our ByggaUte (build outdoors) concept, designed to provide micro-education and purchase decision support tailored to consumer behaviour in today’s digital and social media environment. This includes a decking installation app into which you key decking dimensions and it produces a purchase list of items you need and construction instructions. But we still need to adapt further to how consumers use modern media. The new generation aren’t going into trade shops to buy their timber products, and they’ve moved on from Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Today they’re surfing the internet on the bus, looking at video, or talking to online communities and might be selecting products by whether they’ve got an eco-label. We need to be there in that moment they’re making that decision and get the NTR quality assurance logo into webshops. We haven’t got all the answers yet, but we have some ideas.
We also focus on supporting professionals with information and inspiration with publications like The Environmental Handbook for Treated Wood. We support the Wood Protection Prize, awarded to an inspiring local public wood project, and the work of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology including through a wood bridge building course. This manifests in the public event Träbrobyggardagen, “Wood bridge building day” which involves architecture and engineering students designing a wooden bridge, with the winning design being constructed.
TTJ: HOW DOES THE SWPA WORK WITH THE NORDIC WOOD PRESERVATION COUNCIL, AND HAVE THERE BEEN RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NTR QUALITY SCHEME?
FW: We co-operate closely and meet regularly through joint forums. NWPC is working to further improve quality by enhancing education for members and operators. There will be mandatory education for personnel of companies using the NTR label to levels 1 and 2, eventually leading to a master level of wood treatment. We have to build trust in our sector and education is key to that.
Another challenge facing our industry is the digitisation of product information in the construction sector. We are working on this with members.
TTJ: RECENTLY THE NTR ALSO INTRODUCED A NEW STANDARD FOR PROTECTED GLULAM. WHAT ARE ITS REQUIREMENTS?
FW: This was introduced in April in response to growing demand for preservative treated glulam. This requires the lamellas to be treated prior to gluing as the glue can act as a barrier to preservative, and if the glulam is subsequently planed and sanded, it needs to be treated again. The standard describes correct processes and procedures, including quality checking done by taking bore samples.
TTJ: IS THE LIAISON WITH THE UK WOOD PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION ONGOING, AND HOW IMPORTANT IS IT?
FW: Of course, the UK is a very important market for Swedish timber and we value our relationship with the WPA highly and see scope for developing it further. This year we invited WPA director Simon Henry to the European Wood Protection Association spring meeting and I addressed the WPA annual meeting on behalf of the EWPA.
TTJ: HOW DO YOU SEE THE OUTLOOK FOR THE TIMBER PROTECTION SECTOR?
FW: I’m optimistic. As the world increasingly moves to a decarbonised economic model, we will be faced with competition from the well-resourced energy intensive materials sectors which are developing their own environmental, low carbon stories. We must be in the rooms where decisions are made, be part of decisions at policy level and lobby alongside these industries. But if we position ourselves well, our market can potentially multiply, not necessarily in volume, but through enhanced quality and new business models.
We are active at the European level through the EWPA where we lead the advocacy project ‘Treated Wood for Decarbonisation’. This presents treated wood as a strategic enabler for policymakers in Brussels and in EU member states. And we believe the increasing focus on climate change and sustainability is, in fact, turning into a support for our industry – a striking shift from previous decades, when the spotlight was mainly on chemical risks.
THE SWPA
The Swedish Wood Protection Association (Svenska Träskyddsföreningen) represents 52 timber treating companies and 15 associate members. Focus areas include information and education provision, advocacy, quality assurance, R&D, member support and digitisation. It is the largest association affiliated to the Nordic Wood Preservation Council, which has 102 members across Nordic and Baltic countries and in Poland and manages the NTR timber treatment quality labelling and certification scheme. The SWPA is affiliated to the European Wood Protection Association.
