What Makes Firewood Sustainable?

There are several factors that contribute to the sustainability of firewood.

They include:

• How far it's transported
• What woodland it's sourced from
• How the wood is replenished

Let's look at each in turn to help you in your search for sustainable firewood.

How far firewood is transported

Clearly, the further your wood has to travel to reach your door, the higher the emissions will be for its transport, which reduces its overall sustainability.

This is why it's important to source firewood locally if possible. It's also why we have a delivery radius of ten miles from our yard. This ensures that the timber we source locally stays local, thereby reducing its emissions from transport.

What woodland it's sourced from

While this in part relates to locality - so in our situation, we source all of our firewood from woodlands close to our timber yard - it also refers to the type of woodland it comes from.

This means that our wood is taken from sustainably managed forests, where the trees that are cut are carefully selected for this purpose. In some situations, felled trees from firebreaks are used for firewood.

In others, they are taken because of their growth rate and are part of a woodland that is managed for timber supply, which means more trees will be planted in their place.

A good starting point is to check if the firewood you're looking at is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which indicates it is responsibly sourced and not contributing to deforestation.

How the wood is replenished

This ties in with the previous point in that sustainably managed woodlands involve a constant balance between felling and replanting to ensure that there is always a woodland habitat and that different types of trees are grown to balance the ecosystem.

We are always happy to talk about where our firewood comes from and how the woodlands we source from are managed, so if you have questions please let us know.

• by Admin