The timber industry needs to come out and promote its sustainability credentials in the face of growing environmental claims from rival materials, says director of the British Woodworking Federation Richard Lambert.
Mr Lambert’s comments follow a BBC World Service report on uPVC and timber window use which pitted building expert and columnist for The Telegraph Jeff Howell against Jean Pierre DeGreve of the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers.
Mr Howell argued that uPVC is not a long-lasting energy-saving material and goes brittle with age. Mr DeGreve said plastic is as environmentally friendly as alternatives, requires no maintenance and is easy to recycle.
Mr Lambert commented: “It just reinforces what we have been saying in recent months that the timber-using industry cannot take its claims of sustainability for granted, in that almost every other material is also claiming they have an excellent sustainability record.
“While I think timber has a very strong case you cannot assume the rest of the world will accept that. We have to get out and make the case and counter the claims of other materials.”
He said the fact that Dulux manufactures a paint specifically for uPVC windows undermines the maintenance claims of uPVC window manufacturers. But he believes the industry is now moving away from its original “no maintenance” claim towards “low maintenance” instead.
Reclamation group Salvo told the BBC that the government had created a culture of window replacement by insisting all new and replacement windows be double glazed. It also accused the uPVC window industry of trying to educate people to think windows are consumer durables like washing machines.
