Hotels want their guests to feel comfortable; that’s what makes guests return. A good breakfast, for example, is one way to ensure guest satisfaction. The design and choice of materials in the hotel can be more subtle factors of comfort.
For most people, wooden interiors and furniture are appealing. Wood gives you a warm and cozy feeling. Using wood is beneficial from a health perspective as well: it balances humidity in the room and is a good sound absorber. Some studies show that wood can have a calming and stress relieving effect. Adding the low carbon footprint of wood and it being a renewable material, the conclusion is obvious: we should use more wood wherever suitable. So, all good? No, there is a drawback: We should first consider if there is enough wood available for all its possible uses.
Trees grow quite slowly. It takes decades, maybe even centuries, for trees to be fit for felling. And we shouldn’t make the mistake of seeing forests as timber fields—forests serve more purposes than just providing us with useful building material. They capture carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, protect us from avalanches and landslides, clean rainwater before it reaches the groundwater and provide places for recreation, just to name a few examples. So, the challenge is set: we want to, and should use wood, but in a responsible, sustainable way.
Keeping Nature in Balance
In a responsibly managed forest, no more timber is harvested each year than can naturally regrow. Furthermore, areas with particularly high ecological value are left untouched. Untouched areas help nature to keep balance, which forest owners can profit from: in an intact ecosystem, pests are less likely to become a problem. But here is the dilemma: non-intensive forestry is undoubtedly better from an environmental point of view but allows less timber volume to be harvested in the short term—and timber is the only forest function the owner is getting paid for. This is where each of us can make a difference by choosing and asking for responsibly sourced timber.
The most reliable and recognizable tool from a sustainability perspective is a forest certificate such as FSC. By certifying forests and wood products with FSC or comparable certifications, a broad view on sustainability is already covered with just one certificate. These forest certification schemes evaluate not only the balance between felling and reforestation. They also consider a wide range of ecological factors and social sustainability, adapted to each country, including the rights of local and indigenous people and the legality of the business, before granting a certificate.
Sustainable sourcing is a first important step in a broader sustainability strategy. There is more we can do, such as using our raw materials as efficiently as possible. As an example of efficient production, the development of new technologies made the shift from solid wood flooring to engineered hardwood flooring to hardened wood with a veneer surface. This is a smart and sustainable way forward. Instead of only using one third of the logs for solid planks, we are now able to use less raw material to achieve a sustainable and yet beautiful real wood product. We even integrate saw dust spill and engineered wood panels to reduce the use of logs as much as possible.
Traceability: The Backbone of Forest Certifications
The value of both a certificate and a company’s sustainability strategy is always connected to its credibility. Credibility alone is reason enough to take traceability seriously and transparently work together with authorities, organizations and customers. Manufacturers are put under increasing legal obligations, e.g. the US Lacey Act or the European Deforestation Regulation, to live up to their responsibility to source raw materials sustainably. Producers must not contribute to deforestation, and the burden of proof is theirs: they must be able to trace the wood back through the supply chain to its source, all the way back to the forest. Traceability has always been the backbone of forest certifications, so certified companies are well prepared.
A key factor that must not be underestimated is knowledge about the material. Every wood species has its individual properties. The properties can even vary within the same species between different growing sites. Wood species should be used where they have their strength. The right choice of wood in the right place will last long. And they will keep carbon stored safely if they are in use. A tiny step contributing to fighting manmade climate change.
Forests are affected negatively by climate change already by heat waves and summer draughts, weakening the trees’ defense mechanisms, leading to mass attacks by pests. Wildfires are also an increasing problem. The consequence will be a shift in the natural distribution of species towards outer latitudes. We might not be able to get the same kinds of timber as today, so the best we can do is create resilient forests with a variety of species. Resilient forests with many types of trees of different ages is a win-win situation: they are a guarantee for the forest owners that there will be logs for harvest, however the climate develops, and they are the basis for a rich and balanced ecosystem.
Wood is a fantastic, versatile material with many benefits, its renewability being just one of them. In our enthusiasm for wood as a renewable material, we must not forget the vital role forests play for both people and nature. That is why wood should be used responsibly, efficiently and in products designed to last. Your guests will feel the difference, and you will achieve better financial sustainability.
About the Author
Dr. Georg Vetter is Head of Sustainability at Bjelin, an innovative Swedish wood flooring manufacturer. He has a background in forestry and wood technology with long-time working experience in wood-related R&D and sustainability. Bjelin is working with FSC-certified material (FSC-C 140725).
