Composite Wood Industry Watches Developments in California

9/1/2006 By Joann Gonchar

In the coming months, California regulators could approve strict limits for formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products. The standards, if adopted, would have a profound impact on panel manufacturers, importers, and retailers that do business within the state’s borders and beyond.

The regulations, proposed by the state’s Air Resources Board (CARB), and released most recently in draft form in June, call for implementation in two phases. By July 2008, producers of particleboard, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and hardwood plywood must reduce emissions to levels that many U.S. manufacturers are already achieving. A more strict set of limits would go into effect in July 2010, when producers of particleboard and hardwood plywood would be required to reduce emissions to 0.08 parts per million and 0.03 ppm, respectively. Manufacturers of MDF would have another two years to meet 0.08 ppm levels.

The regulation is primarily targeted at urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins, the most commonly used binder in composite wood products. The UF binders continue to cure and off-gas throughout a product’s life, explains Tom Lent, technical policy coordinator of Healthy Building Network, a national network of green building professionals and environmental advocates.

Formaldehyde has been shown to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer in humans, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Other health effects include eye, nose, and throat irritation, fatigue, and skin rash, says the agency. Industry groups, like the Formaldehyde Council, counter that the chemical is naturally occurring and is even produced by the human body. The group maintains that emissions from products like plywood “are well below levels that could produce adverse health effects.”

Pushing technology

Manufacturers are most concerned about the second-tier thresholds. “We can meet Phase I with current technology,” says Darrel Keeling, particleboard manager of Roseburg Forest Products, but notes, “the Phase II reductions will force technology and have the potential to put quite a few people out of business.”

Several manufacturers, including Roseburg, offer products that would comply with the proposed Phase II limits, in addition to their traditional UF panels. However, they typically market these boards for use in projects where indoor air quality is of particular concern, and sell them at a higher price because they use more expensive, but lower-emitting binders. “We cannot produce all of our [board] with these alternative resins. It is feasible only for small volumes,” says Chris Leffel, vice president of marketing and sales for SierraPine, a composite-panel manufacturer that offers several fiberboard products with no added formaldehyde.

Manufacturers worry that the regulation will increase prices of composite wood products. They also point out that emissions levels of imported products will be hard to verify, giving foreign manufacturers an unfair advantage. Enforcement “is one of the biggest holes in the current draft,” says Keeling. “It leaves the door wide open.”

In response to manufacturers’ concerns, CARB is working on a laboratory testing procedure and a chain-of-custody documentation system. “These tools will help compliant companies by weeding out those that break the law. Enforcement provides a level playing field,” says Gennet Paauwe, a CARB spokeswoman. Refinement of these provisions is one reason that a final hearing on the measure was recently postponed from September to January 2007, she says.

CARB admits that prices

will increase for wood composite products if the measure is implemented. The cost of particleboard, for example, would go up by 30 percent, according to the agency’s estimates. However, proponents of the regulation maintain that prices would eventually fall as the measure pushes research and new resins are developed.

At least one manufacturer is not waiting to see the outcome of the California regulations to develop cost-competitive alternatives to UF-based resins. Columbia Forest Products is almost complete with conversion of its seven North American hardwood plywood plants to a manufacturing process that employs a patented soy-based adhesive. The company says that although the switch involved a “multimillion dollar” capital investment, the adhesive is a cost-neutral alternative to UF resins and produces a stronger and more moisture-resistant product.

In addition to these reported performance advantages, the manufacturer also points to benefits to its employees. “If we could eliminate formaldehyde from our production line, why wouldn’t we do it?” asks John McIsaac, Columbia public relations manager.

Obsolescence

Approval of the CARB regulations could make one of the credits in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system redundant in California, and perhaps across the country, as manufacturers push for uniform standards. Projects that use composite wood products with no added UF earn a point for indoor environmental quality under the LEED system. Says Lent optimistically, “Implementation of CARB’s second-tier regulations could mean that we wouldn’t need [that credit] anymore.”