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issue 127 | 31.05.10 | Page 1
Steel spin
This Issue • The high and ‘wasteful’ cost of CoC • Queensland plantations sale a bargain
How finite industries have sold their ‘sustainability’ claims to gain credits By JIM BOWDEN
THE Green Building Council of Australia’s rewarding of extra credits to the steel and plastic sectors for “environmental responsibility” has dumbfounded the timber industry which is battling for an extra green star point. A new green star ‘steel’ credit, which aims to “encourage environmentally responsible production, design and fabrication methods that result in efficient use of steel”, has been introduced into all green star rating tools. The GBCA says the new credit will remove the focus on high
Man of steel .. not so healthy on sustainability.
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percentages of recycled steel content in new steel products, and instead encourage ‘dematerialised efficiencies’ in the production of steel as a construction material. Now it seems plastic, one of the major toxic pollutants – and one of the most difficult to dispose of – has won a new credit, via PVC, a thermoplastic resin, which also has been introduced by GBCA into green star building rating tools. This removes the minimisation credit attached to the use of PVC products in buildings. Instead, Cont Page 2
stamp on NZ engineered wood • DNA science tracking illegal timber • KL hosts PEFC stakeholder dialogue • Working with wood labor of love
Quality
www.timberawards.com.au
issue 127 | 31.05.10 | Page 1