The UK needs more heat treatment facilities in order to meet major new international regulations for the treatment of timber packaging, according to the Forestry Commission.
The commission, the UK body for accrediting heat treatment kilns to satisfy the legislation, expects there to be a shortfall in capacity when the US, Canada and Mexico follow China in adopting the International Phytosanitary Standard for Wood Packaging (ISPM 15) on January 2 next year.
From this date the countries will no longer accept exported wood packaging, such as pallets, which have not been heat treated or fumigated to meet the standard.
ISPM 15, which the UK is predicted to adopt during 2004 along with a host of other countries, is designed to counter the threat of pests, including the Asian longhorn beetle and the pine wood nematode.
The commission’s head of plant health Roddy Burgess said: “We are trying to encourage and enable the packaging industry to gear up to meet the demand, whenever it comes.”
So far, 21 companies have been accredited to carry out the heat treatment process, including Scott Timber Group, BSW plc, Howie Forest Products and James Jones & Sons Ltd.
Scott Timber is installing high-spec kilns at its sites and is asking customers whether they use wooden packaging to carry products to the North American market. The company believes the current number of accredited facilities could not cope with a big increase in demand.
Meanwhile, the UK Forest Products Association has admitted that nobody seems to know what the required capacity for treated timber packaging will be. But it said the UK industry was responding positively and expects further heat treatment facilities to come on board soon.
