MARKET ACCESS Life Cycle Inventory and Environmental Product

Declarations for Australian Wood Products:

Summary Report

Project number: PNA384-1516a December 2018

Level 11, 10-16 Queen Street

Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

T +61 (0)3 9927 3200 E info@fwpa.com.au

W www.fwpa.com.au

Life Cycle Inventory and Environmental Product Declarations for Australian Wood Products:

Summary Report

Prepared for

Forest & Wood Products Australia

by

J. Vickers, B. Fisher, T. Betten and S. Mitchell

Forest & Wood Products Australia Limited Level 11, 10-16 Queen St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000T +61 3 9927 3200 F +61 3 9927 3288 E info@fwpa.com.au W www.fwpa.com.au

Publication: Life Cycle Inventory and Environmental Product Declarations for Australian Wood Products: Summary Report

Project No: PNA384-1516a

This work is supported by funding provided to FWPA by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR).

© 2018 Forest & Wood Products Australia Limited. All rights reserved.

Whilst all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, Forest and Wood Products Australia Limited and all persons associated with them (FWPA) as well as any other contributors make no representations or give any warranty regarding the use, suitability, validity, accuracy, completeness, currency or reliability of the information, including any opinion or advice, contained in this publication. To the maximum extent permitted by law, FWPA disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to any warranty that the information is up-to-date, complete, true, legally compliant, accurate, non-misleading or suitable.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, FWPA excludes all liability in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise for any injury, loss or damage whatsoever (whether direct, indirect, special or consequential) arising out of or in connection with use or reliance on this publication (and any information, opinions or advice therein) and whether caused by any errors, defects, omissions or misrepresentations in this publication. Individual requirements may vary from those discussed in this publication and you are advised to check with State authorities to ensure building compliance as well as make your own professional assessment of the relevant applicable laws and Standards.

The work is copyright and protected under the terms of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwth). All material may be reproduced in whole or in part, provided that it is not sold or used for commercial benefit and its source (Forest & Wood Products Australia Limited) is acknowledged and the above disclaimer is included. Reproduction or copying for other purposes, which is strictly reserved only for the owner or licensee of copyright under the Copyright Act, is prohibited without the prior written consent of FWPA.

ISBN: 978-1-925213-87-4

Researchers:

J. Vickers, B. Fisher, T. Betten thinkstep Pty Ltd 25 Jubilee Street, South Perth WA 6151, Australia

S. Mitchell Stephen Mitchell Associates PO Box 309, Earlwood NSW 2206, Australia

Final report received by FWPA in March 2018

IMPORTANT NOTICE

i

Executive Summary The goals of this study are:

1. To update Forest and Wood Products Australia’s (FWPA’s) existing life cycle

inventory (LCI) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) for sawn softwood,

sawn hardwood, particleboard, medium density fibreboard (MDF) and plywood.

2. To add an additional LCI and EPD for glued-laminated timber (glulam).

All EPDs are intended to represent average Australian production and each EPD covers a

range of specific sub-products, e.g. the sawn hardwood EPD includes both green and kiln-

dried rough-sawn timber, as well as kiln-dried dressed timber.

The intended audience for the EPDs is primarily building professionals, such as architects and

specifiers, to help Australian wood products qualify for points under green rating tools. The

EPDs comply with the requirements for an industry-wide EPD under the Green Building

Council of Australia’s (GBCA’s) Green Star rating system, the Infrastructure Sustainability

(IS) rating scheme of the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA), and the

LEED rating tool of the US Green Building Council (USGBC).

This study uses the 2015/16 Australian financial year as its reference and serves as a 10-year

update to earlier work done by CSIRO, which was based primarily on 2005/06 data. It

therefore provides a valuable benchmark for understanding changes within the Australian

timber industry over the last decade and provides insights into developments affecting the

environmental credentials of timber products.

Improvements in manufacturing processes have been observed for many of the product

categories. The most notable include:

• An increase in the conversion rate from logs to green sawn timber for both sawn

softwood and sawn hardwood.

• Decreased energy use in kiln-drying per cubic metre of sawn softwood and sawn

hardwood.

• A reduction in resin loadings for both MDF and particleboard products.

• The substitution of natural gas for biomass as a thermal energy source for

particleboard production.

• Lower energy use per cubic metre of production for veneer and plywood products.

Notable opportunities for further improvement in the manufacturing process include:

• Reducing the amount of wood residues burnt within the forestry stage, where feasible.

This will lead to significant improvements in summer smog, eutrophication and

acidification potentials of all wood products.

• Further improving recovery rates for sawn products, as demonstrated by the variation

in recovery rates found between sites. Sites with lower recovery rates may be able to

achieve higher rates by improving processes or technology upgrades, though the

authors recognise that recovery rates are linked to the quality of the incoming logs.

• A further shift toward biomass for thermal energy and away from fossil energy

(mainly natural gas and LPG). This would decrease carbon emissions, though it may

increase emissions leading to summer smog. (It should be noted that summer smog is

not currently a major issue in areas of Australia outside of major cities (Department of

the Environment and Heritage, 2005).)

• For sites that have their own dams: use dam covers or reduce the number of dams to

reduce unnecessary water loss.

ii

New additions in this study include packaging for all products and the inclusion of

preservative treatments for sawn timber and glulam. Packaging was found to be of minor

significance over the life cycle of the product. Preservative treatments were also found to be

of minor significance for the assessed environmental indicators, despite their benefits for

increasing the lifespan of the timber products which they protect.

The updated data behind the EPDs allow them to see out their validity to 2020. The

information contained in these documents will enable building professionals to make

informed decisions about the environmental credentials of construction materials, driving the

design of modern structures which have a lower impact on their surroundings.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... i Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Goal of the study ........................................................................................................................ 2 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 2

Sampling method .................................................................................................................... 2

Coverage ................................................................................................................................. 3 Results ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 5

Sawn softwood ................................................................................................................... 5 Sawn hardwood .................................................................................................................. 5

Particleboard ....................................................................................................................... 5 MDF ................................................................................................................................... 5 Plywood .............................................................................................................................. 5

Glulam ................................................................................................................................ 5 Preservative treatment ........................................................................................................ 5

Recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 6 Further improve recovery rates .......................................................................................... 6

Alternative energy sources ................................................................................................. 6 Further work for hardwood ................................................................................................ 6

Improvements for forestry .................................................................................................. 6 Continue to improve resin loadings ................................................................................... 6

Cover uncovered dams ....................................................................................................... 7 References .................................................................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................... 10

1

Introduction This is the second major iteration of the Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for

Australian wood products, produced for Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA). The

primary aim of this version was to collect a new set of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data and to

update all EPD results to ensure that the EPDs see out their current validity period to 2020.

Following EN 15804 section 6.3.7, data “shall have been updated within the last 10 years for

generic data and within the last 5 years for producer specific data”. This study aims to fulfil

EN 15804’s requirement through this Summary Report and its sister Detailed Report (see

Vickers et al., 2018).

The original EPDs (relating to v1.0 of this background report) were produced by thinkstep

and the Timber Development Association of New South Wales. The Life Cycle Assessment

(LCA) results included within the EPDs were based on an LCI study completed in 2009 by

the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) that inventoried

data from the 2005/06 Australian financial year (1st July 2005 to 30th June 2006) (CSIRO,

2009a). These datasets were checked and partially updated in 2015 before the EPDs were

produced. However, to protect the confidentiality of individual sites, only the average LCI

data were available to thinkstep, so it was not possible to spot-check or update site-specific

data. As a result, it was decided that the best course of action was to collect all data again,

building on the past work wherever possible.

Five EPDs were produced in the first version of this study (sawn softwood, sawn hardwood,

particleboard, MDF and plywood). This second version adds a sixth EPD for glued-laminated

timber (glulam) to the series. It also adds treatments for both sawn softwood and sawn

hardwood, which were excluded from the initial scope. Additionally, while there are no EPDs

for forest products, the scope of work also includes an update to the LCI for plantation

softwood forestry and native hardwood forestry, as these two forest types provide the inputs

used in all downstream products.

2

Goal of the study The goals of this study are:

1. To update FWPA’s existing LCI and EPDs for sawn softwood, sawn hardwood,

particleboard, MDF and plywood.

2. To add an additional LCI and EPD for glulam.

All EPDs are intended to represent the average Australian production mix. Imports are

deliberately excluded due to challenges in collecting data from many producers in multiple

countries. Each EPD applies to a range of specific sub-products – e.g. green and kiln-dried

hardwood – to suit different applications within the construction industry.

The target audience for the EPDs is building professionals, such as architects and specifiers,

in order to help Australian wood products qualify for points under green rating tools, such as:

• The Green Star rating tool of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA);

• The IS rating tool of the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA); and

• The LEED rating tool of the US Green Building Council (USGBC).

The EPDs are also intended to provide a verified carbon footprint for wood products that can

be used in marketing the environmental credentials of wood products (with reference made to

the EPDs). To help enable the use of the EPD data in green building, a follow-up to this study

will be to make the industry-average LCI data available in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

databases for use by LCA practitioners.

Each EPD and corresponding LCA study has been produced according to EN 15804 (EN

15804:2012+A1:2013), ISO 14025 (ISO 14025:2006) and PCR 2012-01 Construction

products and construction services v2.2 (2017-05-30) of the International EPD® System

(IEPDS, 2017). The EPDs are published under the Australasian EPD Programme.

Methodology

Sampling method

Primary data were collected from a sample of Australian forest and wood products

manufacturers for each product category. Quota sampling was used with the aim of covering

at least 50% of total Australian domestic production by volume for all product categories

except sawn hardwood where 25% coverage was specified due to the large number of small

producers in the sawn hardwood industry.

The project ran from April 2016 to November 2017, with most of the focus on collecting

high-quality data from the participating facilities. Surveys were conducted by thinkstep and

Stephen Mitchell Associates between June 2016 and September 2017. All sites were given the

option of completing the survey via either a web-based questionnaire or a spreadsheet, with

support provided by phone, email and/or in person. All datasets were validated using multiple

approaches, including inter-site comparisons, plausibility checks (for outliers, unit errors,

etc.), comparison to the previous study by CSIRO, and comparison to other published studies.

3

Coverage

The reference year for this study is the 2015/16 Australian financial year (1st July 2015 to 30th

June 2016), making this a 10-year update to CSIRO’s original LCI study (based on 2005/06

data). Primary data were collected from a total of 44 Australian forest and wood product

manufacturers. The market coverages achieved relative to total Australian production volumes

for each product category are given in Table 1.

Table 1 Market coverage of 2015/16 data

Category Products Coverage of Australian

production (approx. %)

Logs – Softwood Saw logs (small, medium, large)

Veneer logs

Pulplogs

Other logs

61

Logs – Hardwood Veneer log

Saw log

Pulplogs

Other

88

Sawn timber – Softwood Rough-sawn kiln-dried timber

Planed kiln-dried timber 33-35

Sawn timber – Hardwood Rough-sawn green timber

Rough-sawn kiln-dried timber

Planed kiln-dried timber

27-29

Plywood Exterior plywood (7mm, 9mm)

Formply (A-bond, B-bond)

Flooring (15mm, 25mm)

100

Particleboard Standard melamine coated (16mm,

18mm)

Moisture resistant melamine coated

(16mm, 18mm)

Flooring (19mm, 22mm, 25mm)

54

Medium density

fibreboard (MDF)

Standard melamine coated (16mm,

18mm, 25mm)

Moisture resistant melamine coated

(16mm, 18mm, 25mm)

100

Glued-laminated timber

(Glulam)

Softwood glulam

Hardwood glulam 64

4

Results

Table 2 shows the carbon footprint of each product with results comparing the original

version of the EPDs (2015) and the updated version. For full results, including other

environmental indicators and end-of-life scenarios, see the relevant EPD per product category

attached in Appendix 1.

Table 2 Carbon footprint comparison Product Carbon footprint*

2017 EPD (kg

CO2 equivalent)

Carbon footprint*

2015 EPD (kg

CO2 equivalent)

1 m3 of Softwood, kiln-dried, rough-sawn (untreated) -699 -628

1 m3 of Softwood, kiln-dried, dressed (untreated) -638 -570

1 m3 of Hardwood, green, rough-sawn (untreated) -793 -729

1 m3 of Hardwood, kiln-dried, rough-sawn (untreated) -830 -787

1 m3 of Hardwood, kiln-dried, dressed (untreated) -673 -614

1 m2 of Particleboard, flooring, tongue and groove,

19mm

-5.03 -3.32

1 m2 of Particleboard, flooring, tongue and groove,

22mm

-6.61 -3.67

1 m2 of Particleboard, flooring, tongue and groove,

25mm

-7.56 -4.00

1 m2 of Particleboard, moisture-resistant, E1, melamine

16mm

-6.74 0.42

1 m2 of Particleboard, moisture-resistant, E1, melamine

18mm

-6.74 0.28

1 m2 of Particleboard, standard, E1, melamine 16mm -8.41 -2.90

1 m2 of Particleboard, standard, E1, melamine 18mm -9.08 -3.32

1 m2 of MDF, moisture-resistant, E1, melamine 16mm -3.84 N/A

1 m2 of MDF, moisture-resistant, E1, melamine 18mm -2.04 4.67

1 m2 of MDF, moisture-resistant, E1, melamine 25mm -2.58 7.44

1 m2 of MDF, standard, E1, melamine 16mm -6.31 N/A

1 m2 of MDF, standard, E1, melamine 18mm -7.78 -0.94

1 m2 of MDF, standard, E1, melamine 25mm -5.82 -1.05

1 m2 of Plywood, exterior, A-Bond 7mm -1.66 -1.56

1 m2 of Plywood, exterior, A-Bond 9mm -2.33 -2.01

1 m2 of Plywood, flooring, tongue and groove, A-bond

15mm

-4.03 -3.34

1 m2 of Plywood, flooring, tongue and groove, A-bond

25mm

-6.04 -5.56

1 m2 of Plywood, formply, A-bond 17mm -2.58 -3.80

1 m2 of Plywood, formply, B-bond 17mm -3.40 -2.65

1 m3 of Softwood Glulam (untreated) -550 N/A

1 m3 of Hardwood Glulam (untreated) -350 N/A *The carbon footprint includes the production of the wood product and disposal in a typical landfill. Values are

net emissions including sequestration during forest growth (negative values indicate net sequestration).

5

Conclusions

Sawn softwood

The carbon footprint has improved slightly relative to the previous study, with small to

moderate improvements to some other environmental indicators (eutrophication and

acidification) occurring due to a reduction in residues burnt during forestry, an improvement

in sawmill recovery rates, and, to a lesser extent, a reduction in energy used in kiln-drying.

Sawn hardwood

The carbon footprint has improved slightly relative to the previous study. This is largely due

to a higher recovery rates achieved by the participating facilities, which has a positive effect

across all indicators. Improvements were also found for acidification and eutrophication due

to reduced energy use during kiln-drying. A revision to the emission factors from burning

forest residues made in this study led to an increase for the summer smog indicator. The

burning of residues during the forestry stage remains significant for a range of environmental

indicators.

Particleboard

Carbon footprint and most other environmental indicators have improved relative to the

previous study due to lower resin loadings in the finished products and the substitution of

natural gas for biomass energy. Revised emission factors resulting from forest residue burning

cause the main increase in summer smog formation, with the substitution of natural gas for

biomass also resulting in a small increase for this indicator.

MDF

Environmental impacts have reduced across most environmental indicators due to lower resin

loadings in the finished products and a reduction in natural gas use. All products included

within the study now have a negative carbon footprint from cradle-to-gate (i.e., more carbon

uptake during tree growth than carbon released during production). Summer smog formation

has increased due to the revised emission factor from forest residue burning upstream.

Plywood

A reduction can be observed across all assessed indicators except summer smog. This is due

to a reduction in energy use within the veneer production process, including a reduction in

electricity use, natural gas and biomass. The increase in smog formation is attributed to

revised emissions from residue burning in the forestry stage.

Glulam

The upstream process of producing sawn timber is the most significant across all assessed

indicators except for ozone depletion for softwood glulam and depletion of elements for

hardwood glulam. Higher forest burning and lower recovery rates for hardwood production

result in higher environmental impacts across all assessed indicators compared to softwood

glulam, except for abiotic depletion, which is higher for softwood glulam due to the use of

chemicals in softwood plantations and the use of different resin types.

Preservative treatment

These were found to be relatively low impact for the indicators included, despite their benefits

for longevity. Copper-based treatments are found to be generally higher-impact for the

assessed indicators.

6

Recommendations

Further improve recovery rates

This study showed that recovery rates improved between 2005/06 and 2015/16, which has

helped to reduce environment impacts across the board. However, there remains considerable

variation in recovery rates between mills: 49-59% for softwood green mills, 74-82% for

softwood dry mills, 29-54% for hardwood green mills, and 66-90% for hardwood dry mills.

While recovery rates are affected by factors such as log size and quality, there may be a

potential for sawmills with lower recovery rates to improve.

Alternative energy sources

Solar kilns were found to be an effective way of reducing the environmental impacts from

kiln-drying. However, when considering the entire production phase of dressed hardwood

timber, the improvements gained using solar kilns were outweighed by other factors. The

geographical location of a site was found to have more influence over the environmental

impact of the product due to different electricity grid mixes.

Substituting natural gas for biomass in particleboard production has reduced its carbon

footprint. The move towards more renewable energy results in reduced dependency on

increasingly expensive natural gas (Oakley Greenwood, 2016), but has some consequences

for summer smog and, depending on the resin content, also acidification and eutrophication.

This substitution may be favourable for Australia’s situation as GWP is an indicator which

currently holds high global importance, whereas POCP is highly regional and dependent on

the receiving environment. In most Australian towns, cities and rural areas, where most wood

processing facilities are located, the amount of ozone in the air does not exceed the national

standards. Only larger cities have occasions when there is enough ozone in the air for it to be

a risk to human health (Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005).

Further work for hardwood

Given that the spread of results for hardwood products is larger than for softwood due to

higher variability in species and forestry practises, it may be beneficial to analyse the results

by state or region. While this was not done in this study, this is something that should be

considered in future.

Improvements for forestry

For softwood, slash burning should be replaced with mechanical crushing where feasible,

leading to reduced air emissions and retaining more sequestered carbon in the soil. For native

hardwood forestry, the amount of residue burned through regeneration burns should be

limited, however, it is recognised that burns are required as part of the natural regeneration

process for many native hardwood species.

Continue to improve resin loadings

Resin loadings and the type of resin used in engineered wood products was found to be

significant for all the assessed indicators. It is recommended that a reduction in resin use and

selection of resins based on their environmental credentials is undertaken where possible.

The environmental profile for glulam, due to low resin loadings (<1% by mass), is similar to

dressed kiln-dried wood. However, the use of resin allows for products with greater

dimensions and more regular structural properties to be created from lower grade timber.

7

Cover uncovered dams

Nine facilities included within the study used uncovered dams on site. Evaporation due to the

use of dams, relative to evaporation which would otherwise occur from soil or pasture, was

calculated to be approximately 5% of the total water use for each of the product categories

with dam users. Assuming the sample is representative of the industry, water loss due to the

use of uncovered dams for the product categories included in this study is estimated to be over

120 ML/a, enough to fill 50 Olympic-size swimming pools per year. It is therefore

recommended that measures are taken such as dam covers to reduce water lost due to

evaporation, especially in water stressed regions of Australia.

8

References

Department of the Environment and Heritage. (2005). AIR QUALITY FACT SHEET.

Retrieved from Department of the Environment and Energy:

http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/publications/factsheet-ground-level-ozone-o3

EN 15804:2012+A1:2013. (2013). SUSTAINABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION WORKS —

ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS — CORE RULES FOR THE

PRODUCT CATEGORY OF CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS. Brussels: European

Committee for Standardization.

IEPDS. (2017). PCR 2012:01 CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS AND CONSTRUCTION

SERVICES, Version 2.2. The International EPD® System.

ISO 14025:2006. (2006). ENVIRONMENTAL LABELS AND DECLARATIONS — TYPE

III ENVIRONMENTAL DECLARATIONS — PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES.

Geneva: International Organization for Standardization.

ISO 14040:2006. (2006). ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT – LIFE CYCLE

ASSESSMENT – PRINCIPLES AND FRAMEWORK. Geneva: International Organization

for Standardization.

ISO/TS 14067:2013. (2013). GREENHOUSE GASES – CARBON FOOTPRINT OF

PRODUCTS – REQUIREMENTS AND GUIDELINES FOR QUANTIFICATION AND

COMMUNICATION. Geneva: International Organization for Standardization.

Oakley Greenwood. (2016). GAS PRICE TRENDS REVIEW. Canberra ACT 2601 Australia:

Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

Vickers, J., Fisher, B, Betten, T. and Mitchell, S. (2018). LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY AND

ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS FOR AUSTRALIAN WOOD

PRODUCTS: DETAILED REPORT. Project No: PNA384-1516. Forest & Wood Products

Australia, Melbourne.

9

Acknowledgements The authors of this report formally acknowledge the work done by CSIRO from 2006 to 2009

which laid the foundation for this study. CSIRO produced a public summary (CSIRO, 2009a)

and then separate module reports which were not part of the public communication (CSIRO,

2009b). These reports served as an important input into both the previous and the current

versions of the EPDs, even though the underlying LCA data are no longer used as of version

2.0.

10

Appendix 1 The following EPDs are attached below:

• 1 – Softwood Timber

• 2 – Hardwood timber

• 3 – Particleboard

• 4 – Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF)

• 5 – Plywood

• 6 – Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam)