Social Timber

Question 1

Define trend forecasting?

Answer 1

When manufacturers and retailers try to predict the trends or fashions over the following years so that they can design and make products that people will want in the future.

Question 2

What new trends are present in the future of the timber industry?

Answer 2

-Timbers have
become popular in the external cladding of many buildings, and therefore there has been
an increase in demand for timber.

-The use of tropical hardwoods from the amazon rainforest is decreasing, whereas softwoods from sustainable forests are increasing, as they are harming our planet and environment.

Question 3

Define felling?

Answer 3

The process of cutting trees down

Question 4

Define logging?

Answer 4

The felling of trees and their transportation to sawmills for conversion into planks.

Question 5

What are the positives of logging?

Answer 5

• Provide employment for communities

- Involves the building of roads and infrastructure

Question 6

What are the negatives of logging?

Answer 6

• Leads to the destruction of fertile ground, if trees are not replanted
• Biodiverse nature of the forests can be lost, and wildlife and plant life may suffer.

Question 7

Define Biodiversity

Answer 7

The variety of all the different species of organism within an ecosystem.

Question 8

Define upcycle?

Answer 8

Unwanted products taken apart and remade into totally new products, reusing materials.

Timber products can be upcycled, giving them a life as another product once their first life has been fulfilled.

Question 9

Give some examples of upcycling or disposed?

Answer 9

• Railway sleepers can be reused to build flower beds.
• Some timbers can be recycled into manufactured boards such as chipboard and MDF
• Waste timber can be used as a fuel at a biomass station
• If natural timber goes to landfill. It is biodegradable and will not rot without harming the soil.
• Manufactured boards contain resins and are far less easy to recycle or dispose of.