Knowing your sources!
When it comes to wood purchasing, Lenzing leaves nothing to chance, it is in direct contact with over 700 suppliers, and only purchases wood certified or controlled according to the strictest standards.
Trees can become very old. The most probably oldest example in the world can be found in Sweden. The spruce is called Old Tjikko and according to a scientific analysis, it is 9,550 years old. It is located in the Fulufjället National Park in a place where otherwise only small trees thrive and with all due respect to its age, the old spruce certainly looks as if standing up right is really hard after so many thousands of years.
Usually trees do not grow to be that old and they do not tend to stand alone without peers but in groups or in the forest. This is the reason why spruces are harvested on average at 80 years, and beech trees after approximately 100 years. This is not because industry is already waiting for them, but because forests need this constant renewal.
Lenzing uses trees for the production of cellulose fibers. The wood suppliers range from small farmers or forestries in the region to churches and monasteries, through to large private and public forestry operations. Half of the wood used for production comes from Austria. The best known Austrian suppliers include Kremsmünster monastery, near Lenzing, and the Austrian Federal Forestries, which belong to the Republic of Austria. The other half comes from Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, France, Slovenia and Switzerland.
There are currently close to 750 suppliers, all of them responsible representatives of a sustainable forest industry and certified in line with stringent criteria. In many cases, Lenzing has been in business with them for decades. In order to ensure that small businesses are also competitive in terms of logistics and price negotiations, there is the Forest Owners' Association, an organization with a cooperative structure where forest owners of all sizes are represented. It sets the conditions for all players and appoints so-called „forest helpers“, who are called upon when help is needed. „Our wood comes from certified and controlled sources which are also checked by us according to strict measures“, Andrea Steinegger from the wood purchasing department at Lenzing comments.
In this way, the two European factories - one at the company's headquarters in Lenzing in Austria and the second in the Czech Republic - are supplied first-hand to a certain extent. Pulp is extracted from the delimbed trees, which are delivered by wagon or truck, and then further processed to VEOCEL™ branded fibers. All Lenzing cellulosic fibers are of botanic origin. After use, the fibers are completely biodegradable and compostable. This closes the circle.
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