The future of wood treatment down-under

Friday 11 May 2012

 
The face of wood preservation has changed dramatically in recent times. We’ve heard about the rapid drop off in forestry and wood products research capability in Australia in recent years. For wood treatment, the story is pretty similar. In 1981 there were around 50 scientists employed in Universities or Government or quasi-Government institutions on wood protection research in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Sweden according to Alan Preston of Apterus Consulting. Move forward 30 years. The number has now dropped to around 18 employed in these same four countries.

Fungicides available for wood protection in 1980 numbered around 40. This has dropped now to around 10. Regions with significant governmental funding for wood protection in 1980 included New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, Europe, South Africa, Canada and the US. We now have only Europe where the focus is on wood modification without biocides and thermal modification of wood (including Scandinavia) and China.

In the world of commodity timber (lumber) treatment, those involved in this industry have seen better days. Margins are low and competitiveness is high. Scientific involvement in wood protection has declined with retirements and a lack of will for multi-disciplinary approaches moving forward. The movement from CCA in lumber treatments in some countries has also led to a drop off in treatment quality.

It's not all doom and gloom though. Opportunities abound. It may be a different approach within the value chain and it may well involve different treatment processes that have traditionally being the realm of local wood treatment companies – as well as products. It’s time to think about how best the industry can maximise these opportunities locally.

Alan Preston will be presenting next week at the three–yearly Wood Preservation series – along with presentations from leading researchers, chemical companies and wood treaters from Europe, North America and Australasia. If you’re involved in the industry, you really should be there.

Late registrations and further information can be found on www.woodpreservationevents.com


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