26
Jan
Jan
About us, Chopping boards, Decking, Environment, Wooden tiles, Worktops
Eco and tropical wood – how do they go together?
When you hear “tropical timber” in this country, alarm bells ring: desolate land where rainforest once stood, extinct animals and a damaged climate. Everyone rightly has these images immediately in mind.
At the same time, tropical wood has excellent properties as a building material: it withstands the local weather impressively for many years and is therefore ideal for terrace construction. At Betterwood, we have set ourselves the goal of offering very high quality tropical wood products that meet strict ecological and social standards. What initially sounds like a contradiction is actually feasible: Because in the countries of origin in Latin America, most forest areas are cut down because the population there expects a better income from agriculture. Large areas of rainforest are sometimes simply burned down.
However, if the local population finds good working conditions in forestry – with above-average wages, for example – it also makes sense to preserve the forest as the basis of life for future generations. Then the forest remains and the local people can live from it.
This is how sustainable forestry works and we want to support it. All our wood products are certified with the FSC seal the strictest procedure for monitoring high ecological and social standards. Clear-cutting and pesticides are prohibited, biodiversity must be preserved and only as much wood may be removed from the forest as will grow back in the same period. Deforested areas are reforested – biodiversity can grow again.
To ensure that the positive environmental balance of production does not go up in smoke during the transportation of decking boards, wooden tiles and cutting boards from Latin America to our customers, we also participate in CO2 certificate trading. The CO2 emissions from each transport are calculated and offset in a reforestation project in Bolivia, which we are implementing in cooperation with Bonn-based Co2ol. This means that our entire logistics process is climate-neutral.
The end result is tropical wood products that are truly sustainable – for people and nature. That is the Betterwood concept.
At the same time, tropical wood has excellent properties as a building material: it withstands the local weather impressively for many years and is therefore ideal for terrace construction. At Betterwood, we have set ourselves the goal of offering very high quality tropical wood products that meet strict ecological and social standards. What initially sounds like a contradiction is actually feasible: Because in the countries of origin in Latin America, most forest areas are cut down because the population there expects a better income from agriculture. Large areas of rainforest are sometimes simply burned down.
However, if the local population finds good working conditions in forestry – with above-average wages, for example – it also makes sense to preserve the forest as the basis of life for future generations. Then the forest remains and the local people can live from it.
This is how sustainable forestry works and we want to support it. All our wood products are certified with the FSC seal the strictest procedure for monitoring high ecological and social standards. Clear-cutting and pesticides are prohibited, biodiversity must be preserved and only as much wood may be removed from the forest as will grow back in the same period. Deforested areas are reforested – biodiversity can grow again.
To ensure that the positive environmental balance of production does not go up in smoke during the transportation of decking boards, wooden tiles and cutting boards from Latin America to our customers, we also participate in CO2 certificate trading. The CO2 emissions from each transport are calculated and offset in a reforestation project in Bolivia, which we are implementing in cooperation with Bonn-based Co2ol. This means that our entire logistics process is climate-neutral.
The end result is tropical wood products that are truly sustainable – for people and nature. That is the Betterwood concept.