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If at all possible, used recycled timber. It has character, it can come from old growth forest which is in better condition and stronger than the timber available for sale nowadays, and there is a lot of timber that goes into landfill sites and the like when it is still perfectly useable. You can get recycled timber from salvage yards and recycling centres - please contact your local council for more details.

If you really have to use new timber, then make sure it is certified. There are many different certification schemes, but the best and most-inclusive is the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). It accredits independent third party organizations who can certify forest managers and forest product producers to FSC standards. It has these as its main principles: (summarized below).

1) Compliance with laws and FSC principles. – Complying with all FSC principles, as well as of the laws of the country in which the logging company operates, paying all appropriate fees and taxes.

2) Tenure and use rights and responsibilities – All concessions should be legally logged.

3) Indigenous peoples’ rights – Indigenous peoples’land rights should be respected.

4) Community relations and workers’ rights – People living close to the logging area should be given opportunities for employment, and workers’ rights should be respected.

5) benefits from the forest – It should be ensured that the forest is logged sustainably, and that local communities do not have to rely on income from a single forest product, wast should be minimized.

6) Environmental impact – forest management should conserve biological diversity and itsassociated values.

7) Management plan – The logging company must have an up-to-date management plan that is suitable for the size and scale of its operations.

8) Monitoring and assessment – monitoring should be conductedto assess the condition of the forest, yield, chain of custody, management activities and social and environmental impacts.

9) Maintenance of high conservation value forests – Management activities in high conservation value forests should maintain or enhance the attributes which define such forests.

10) Plantations – The use of plantations should complement the management of, reduce the pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests.

FSC standards, as well as focusing on forest management, also takes an interest in chain of custody – ie. FSC principles are maintained at all stages of timber processing, right up to its final point of sale, so the consumer will know that the timber they are buying comes from suitable sources.

Look out for FSC logo on the timber you buy, it looks like this –

Useful links for further information:

www.aecb.net - association for environment conscious building

www.ecology.co.uk - ecology building society

www.usitagain.co.uk - recycled materials

www.rainforestinfo.org.au/good_wood/recyc_t.htm. – Some good reasons to use recycled timber