Environmental Awareness

Environmental Awareness…

Hurford Hardwood is committed to our forests, our community and our future.

Underpinning our commitment is an ambitious hardwood reforestation project in the local area where we have purchase over 5000 hectares of land and have commenced a planting program that will see more than 25000 new plantation eucalypt saplings established each year.

With careful management, Hurford Hardwood aims to commence ongoing sustainable harvesting of these plantations within 25 years.

The plantations are established according to strict environmental guidelines and a code of practice that is regulated by the NSW government. These guidelines are designed to protect soil and water resources and support the surrounding habitat with special consideration to Australia’s native flora and fauna.

Amenity plantings are included in every Hurford Hardwood planting operation. Never to be harvested, these mixed species trees are established on creek banks for soil protection and to complement designated natural regeneration areas to provide additional corridors of native forest.

Hurford Hardwood is committed to promoting the sustainable management of Australia’s forests. Through Responsible Wood certification under Australian Standard AS 4707 we demonstrate that our products are sourced from forest management practices that meet internationally accepted economic, social and environmental criteria. The sustainable management of forests that supply this company are important, as is the need to demonstrate this to our customers.

To uphold our obligations under the Responsible Wood certification scheme Hurford Hardwood is committed to:

  • Providing documentation that verifies the timber procured by our company has been harvested in accordance with relevant State and Commonwealth laws;
  • Providing documentation that verifies suppliers compliance with the current AFS Forestry Standard;
  • Maintaining a documented control system that supports and demonstrates the tracking of certified products through our facilities;
  • Ensuring that our facilities and work methods comply with current occupational health and safety regulations;
  • Ensuring that our facilities and work methods comply with all applicable laws and/or regulations covering the environmental impacts of our manufacturing;
  • Recognising the right for personnel to collectively bargain consistent with the International Labour Organisation conventions;
  • Maintaining the validity of Responsible Wood certificate by complying with recommendations of the certification body during periodical audits;
  • Continual improvement of our management system to ensure the integrity of the Chain Of Custody system is maintained.

Hurford Hardwood insist that all timber produced from these forests is done so under the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management, a system developed to sustain the full range of commercial and conservation values of the natural forest diversity within ecological limits, for current and future generations.