Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material

Rubberwood is an important wood resource for the wood-based industry in Malaysia and the neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region. Many studies have been conducted to assess rubberwood’s properties and economic viability for value-added wood products manufacturing. However, information on...

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Main Authors: Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran, Ramasamy, Geetha, Ioras, Florin, Parasuraman, Neelakandan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University 2017
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/60948/1/Assessment%20of%20the%20carbon%20footprint%20of%20rubberwood%20sawmilling%20in%20Peninsular%20Malaysia%20challenging%20the%20green%20label%20of%20the%20material.pdf
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author Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran
Ramasamy, Geetha
Ioras, Florin
Parasuraman, Neelakandan
author_facet Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran
Ramasamy, Geetha
Ioras, Florin
Parasuraman, Neelakandan
author_sort Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran
collection UPM
description Rubberwood is an important wood resource for the wood-based industry in Malaysia and the neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region. Many studies have been conducted to assess rubberwood’s properties and economic viability for value-added wood products manufacturing. However, information on the material’s environmental performance and green labeling is limited. Therefore, the life cycle approach was carried out in this study to evaluate the carbon footprint of rubberwood rough green sawn timber production. A cradle-to-gate approach was applied. The results indicated that the carbon footprint for rubberwood rough green sawn timber production was 52.9 CO2-eq/m3. However, when taking into consideration the carbon footprint of the whole rubberwood sawmilling industry in comparison to the Dark Red Meranti sawmilling industry, it is apparent that the total carbon footprint of the rubberwood sawmilling industry is remarkably higher. This is due to the use of inefficient processing technology, which leads to a high level of wastage on the harvesting site and in the mill. Therefore, this study shows that the green label accorded to rubberwood appears questionable from the perspective of its carbon footprint, and that efforts must be taken to minimize the waste if the material is to achieve a green material status.
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spelling upm.eprints-609482019-04-29T08:32:14Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/60948/ Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran Ramasamy, Geetha Ioras, Florin Parasuraman, Neelakandan Rubberwood is an important wood resource for the wood-based industry in Malaysia and the neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region. Many studies have been conducted to assess rubberwood’s properties and economic viability for value-added wood products manufacturing. However, information on the material’s environmental performance and green labeling is limited. Therefore, the life cycle approach was carried out in this study to evaluate the carbon footprint of rubberwood rough green sawn timber production. A cradle-to-gate approach was applied. The results indicated that the carbon footprint for rubberwood rough green sawn timber production was 52.9 CO2-eq/m3. However, when taking into consideration the carbon footprint of the whole rubberwood sawmilling industry in comparison to the Dark Red Meranti sawmilling industry, it is apparent that the total carbon footprint of the rubberwood sawmilling industry is remarkably higher. This is due to the use of inefficient processing technology, which leads to a high level of wastage on the harvesting site and in the mill. Therefore, this study shows that the green label accorded to rubberwood appears questionable from the perspective of its carbon footprint, and that efforts must be taken to minimize the waste if the material is to achieve a green material status. College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University 2017 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/60948/1/Assessment%20of%20the%20carbon%20footprint%20of%20rubberwood%20sawmilling%20in%20Peninsular%20Malaysia%20challenging%20the%20green%20label%20of%20the%20material.pdf Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran and Ramasamy, Geetha and Ioras, Florin and Parasuraman, Neelakandan (2017) Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material. BioResources, 12 (2). pp. 3490-3503. ISSN 1930-2126; ESSN: 1930-2126 http://ojs.cnr.ncsu.edu/index.php/BioRes/article/view/BioRes_12_2_3490_Ratnasingam_Carbon_Footprint_Rubberwood_Sawmilling
spellingShingle Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran
Ramasamy, Geetha
Ioras, Florin
Parasuraman, Neelakandan
Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material
title Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material
title_full Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material
title_fullStr Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material
title_short Assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in Peninsular Malaysia: challenging the green label of the material
title_sort assessment of the carbon footprint of rubberwood sawmilling in peninsular malaysia challenging the green label of the material
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/60948/1/Assessment%20of%20the%20carbon%20footprint%20of%20rubberwood%20sawmilling%20in%20Peninsular%20Malaysia%20challenging%20the%20green%20label%20of%20the%20material.pdf
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