 |
| Many
people are aware of the situation regarding the world's rainforests,
but little is generally known about where 'non-native' charcoal
is derived from and the damage it does to our 'collective' resources.
Below are a few articles outlining the problems and the reasons
as to why well managed coppicing actually helps our native wildlife
whilst producing the best in charcoal products. |
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Country
Life
(June 1993)
'No need to barbecue with mangrove swamps' |
| As
much as 97% of the charcoal presently used in Britain
is imported, generally from Third World countries. About
a third comes from Indonesia, and is made from mangrove
wood. Little can be done to police whether the raw material
in Indonesian and other imported charcoal comes from sustainably
managed forests. The method of production is so inefficient
that only some 60% of the charcoal is likely to be carbon:
it is the other 40% - still wood - that gives off the
clouds of smoke in burning. No doubt many of the people
who unwittingly use imported charcoal on their barbecues
would be horrified to imagine the effect, however slight,
that they are having on rain forests and mangrove swamps. |
English
charcoal, by contrast is of higher quality, with carbon
contents of up to 90%. Consequently, according to Mr
Pooran Desai of the Bio-regional Development Group in
Sutton, "it is easy to light and reaches a high temperature
in about 15 minutes". Bought by weight, it may be more
expensive than the foreign competition but that is partly
because carbon - the desirable ingredient - is lighter
than unconverted wood. There are other benefits to the
home product. Some of it is made from forest thinnings
(a waste product), some from coppicing (a renewable
resource). Coppiced woodland offers an attractive habitat
for wild flowers. |
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|
Birds
Magazine
(Winter 1993) |
| The
heyday of coppice woodlands was over 100 years ago. Sadly,
a dramatic decline in demand for woodland produce left
most ancient woodlands, especially in southern England,
as abandoned coppice with declining wildlife. In an effort
to restore woodland wildlife, conservationists seek new
markets for produce to make coppice management viable
again. One
of the most promising new products is charcoal for the
barbecue market. About 60,000 tonnes of charcoal are sold
in Britain each year: 90 per cent is imported, often from
non-sustainable sources. |
In
Spain, holm oaks are traditionally used to make charcoal
in a sustainable way but there is a trend to use eucalyptus
from plantations that replace native wildlife habitat.
In South-East Asia tropical rainforests and mangroves
are felled to make charcoal, simply to enable us to cook
out of doors. There
is, however, enough coppice woodland in south-cast England
alone to supply the whole of the barbecue charcoal market
with a superior product. British native hardwoods produce
excellent lumpwood charcoal, which requires no lighter
fuel and gives a good heat within 15-20 minutes. Even
the dust residue is in demand for high grade steel production. |
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|
The
Times
(3 June 1995)
Burning Desire to Buy British |
| 'The
deciduous woodlands that supply the raw materials for
the charcoal should benefit from 1 the industry's revival.
England in particular has a vast resource of broadleaf
woods that have received little if any management for
more than half a century. Ancient coppice stools, formerly
cut to the ground on a regular seven to fifteen year cycle,
have towered into high, dense canopies. |
Overgrown
coppice woods provide a valuable haven for rare insects
and fungi, but they also inhibit the growth of young trees
and exclude many Spring flowers and butterflies. Provided
sufficient areas are left untouched, cutting down the
excess growth for charcoal will help restore the balance
of woodland ecology.' |
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|
Farming
and Conservation
(October 1995)
Charcoal quality
|
| Let
us begin by saying that British made barbecue charcoal
is the best. It is superior to the heavy imported materials
made from tropical hardwoods or mangrove woods. It ignites
easily without extensive use of lighter fuels, comes up
to cooking temperature quickly and bums cleanly. The reason
for this is the lighter structure of British wood species
which results in a more open structured charcoal. Moreover
it is made from properly managed woodlands where full
attention is paid to maintaining the environment and wildlife
habitats. |
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Forestry
and British Timber
(March
1996) |
| British
makers, or burners, now number nearly 300, as against
a mere 50 a few years ago. They are finding that the green
credentials and superior quality of British charcoal are
spurring demand for their product. In the absence of precise
statistics, the British Charcoal Group, which represents
producers, estimated that in 1995 British barbecue enthusiasts
bought 40,000 to 50,000t of charcoal, of which only 3,000t
came from British burners. In addition, around 20,000t
of charcoal went to industry for such products as filters
and for chemical processes and agriculture and horticulture.
|
While
we import well over 90% of our charcoal needs, the British
Charcoal Group points to the 90m m³ of Britain's broadleaved
standing resource, which is estimated to grow at around
2m m' per annum and only half of which is used by manufacturing
industry. It would seem therefore that a million cubic
metres of broadleaved timber is available each year for
uses that could include the making of charcoal. |
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The
Independent
(22
June 1996) |
|
'Over
the last few decades the ancient woodland industry of
charcoal burning has been relegated to the museums,
while we have imported charcoal from tropical rain forests
swamps.' |
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