Building Contractors Society Unable to Meet Goal to Reduce Tropical Timber Use
Hideki Obata

The Building Contractors Society (an association representing major Japanese construction companies) announced that it was unable to achieve its goal to reduce consumption of tropical timber in plywood panels for molding concrete by 35% in 5 years. The reduction achieved was 24.3%.

The Building Contractors Society at its Board of Directors meeting in February 1992 decided "to adopt the goal of reducing consumption of tropical timber for concrete molding panels by 35% or more within 5 years" and announced this to its 85 member corporations. In response, the BCS study group on rationalization of wood use decided to limit its studies on reduction of tropical timber use to 16 major construction companies participating in the study group.

According to the announcement, the 16 companies' total consumption of tropical timber for concrete molding panels in the baseline year of 1992 was 431,264 m3. The figure in 1997, the last year of the study, was 326,606ｍ3, for a reduction rate of 24.3%. Construction work using alternatives to tropical timber accounted for the equivalent of 155,784 m3 of tropical timber plywood; i.e., one third of concrete molding works were done by methods not using tropical timber. (Table 1)

Table 1 Breakdown of substitutes for tropical timber plywood for concrete molding panels

conifer or composite plywood forms	35,613ｍ3（22.9％）
metal molds (including DP)	31,858ｍ3（20.5％）
PC, half PC	21,599ｍ3（13.9％）
Other	66,714ｍ3（42.8％）
Total	155,784ｍ3（100％）

SCC members visited the BCS to get more details about the announcement. Our main questions concerned: 1. substitutes, 2. reduction of construction work, 3. issues so far and future challenges, 4. future efforts to reduce use of tropical timber.

1. SCC members first inquired about substitutes, in particular regarding BCS's views on conversion to conifer timber (much of which is from Siberian boreal forests), as well as use of domestic timber, and progress on concrete molding methods not using wood. Regarding use of conifer wood, the BCS responded that it had used much conifer wood as a next-to-best alternative to tropical timber. It was said that an understanding that use of tropical timber is bad for the environment has taken root to a considerable extent in the industry, but that there still isn't the recognition that use of some kinds of conifer wood is also harmful for the environment. It was the BCS's view that domestic timber is not a suitable material for plywood forms. Even leaving aside issues of price, domestic timber has problems of structural weakness, high water content, warping and having many knots. Use of domestic timber molding forms was said to be almost nil.

Regarding progress in methods not using timber, it was mentioned that there has been increased use of steel molds left in the structure after the concrete hardens. Though such molds are more expensive than plywood molds, their use can shorten the required work time and reduce waste disposal costs, leading to total cost savings, especially in the Kanto region (around Tokyo). So they are being used for such reasons, not just to avoid use of wood. Use of PC (pre-cast concrete) has not increased much, but there is increased use of the "half PC" method, in which the molds themselves are made of concrete in the factory, are transported to the construction site, wet concrete is poured into them, and they are left as part of the structure. They have the advantage of being easier to transport than pre-cast concrete members.

2. The next question from SCC was whether or not the reduction in use of tropical timber for concrete molding panels was due primarily to a general reduction in construction work itself (due to the economic recession). The BCS agreed that sales had fallen by one third, and that the amount of construction work in terms of floor space had dropped 7%. However, around 1992, there was much construction of steel-frame buildings, which use relatively low amounts of concrete molding panels, as well as office buildings, which have fewer walls to be molded, whereas construction of these types of buildings has recently been reduced drastically (construction floor space of steel-frame buildings has fallen 26%) while there has been a slight increase in construction of condominiums and other ferro-concrete buildings with many walls to be molded. Thus, though it is difficult to quantify, the total use of molding forms was thought to be about the same as before.

3. The BCS mentioned a number of problems faced in their efforts: the construction companies and molding work subcontractors did not always see eye to eye on the need to reduce tropical timber, transportation costs increased as factories producing conifer or composite plywood were often not nearby, and it was not possible to reuse conifer plywood as many times as tropical plywood.

4. Finally, regarding future efforts, the BCS said that the industry as a whole would no longer carry out a consolidated effort to reduce tropical timber use, but that individual companies would take their own initiatives to include reduction of tropical timber consumption as a management category in environmental management systems, and to set goals, adopt measures and make improvements accordingly. Specifically, various companies are working to get ISO 14000 series accreditation (some have already gotten it); most of them will take the approach of establishing yearly targets for "tropical timber molding panel substitution rate" (the ratio of non-tropical timber molds to total use of molds for pouring concrete). We were told that we should be able to get information on such efforts and their progress if we inquire to the companies directly.

Regarding their efforts to reduce tropical timber use, the BCS states that the "results are thought to be significant, considering the environment surrounding the construction industry during the last five years." Indeed, a reduction of 24.3% should be commended, considering that all efforts were carried out at the industry's own initiative. However, it is unfortunate that the 35% reduction target could not be achieved, especially since the BCS had decided on this target on the basis of member companies' estimates of reduction amounts considered achievable at the time. Furthermore, the 85 companies affiliated with the BCS constitute only a part of Japan's construction industry, and only 16 companies actually achieved the overall 24.3% reduction. It was hoped that these 16 construction companies, which are some of the largest in Japan, could have achieved the target by all means, especially considering their major influence on society.

Though future efforts will be left up to the individual companies, if many companies proceed to attain accreditation under the ISO 14000 series, which has information disclosure requirements, it is hoped that it will become easier for citizens groups such as ours to obtain information. We will also have to continue to patiently monitor developments.

If you would like details on future efforts of the 16 major construction companies, please contact the Sarawak Campaign Committee.

Back to SCC English Homepage