Panel products giant Kronospan has further strengthened its green credentials by achieving the tough CARB accreditation, the standard increasingly seen as a ‘must’ for the industry.
The certification, awarded by the California Air Resources Board, demonstrates low levels of formaldehyde within products and has been awarded to the company’s MDF range.
The Chirk-based company has achieved both phase one and phase two of the accreditation, which it says is crucial when dealing with its key European client base.
The status was awarded after a rigorous external testing and auditing process, and the products will continue to be tested on a regular basis.
Iain Ferguson, Kronospan’s environmental manager, said the company’s sustainability credentials were “crucial”.
“We work hard not only to achieve accreditations, but to produce the highest quality, environmentally-friendly products in the safest possible conditions,” he said. “We achieved both phases of the accreditation through our current working practices, as we were already operating at the levels required to achieve CARB status.”
The company’s environmental improvement programme has seen its Chirk site become one of the first to operate on a ‘carbon positive’ basis. The company’s biomass boiler consumes uses 300,000 tonnes of waste wood each year, most of which is packaging waste, which would otherwise have been sent to landfill.
