The Mid-Atlantic Steel Fabricators Association (MASFA) Education Task Force presents an informative perspective on “greenwashing” by the mass timber industry.
As the world of wood-framed structures grows, MASFA is working to increase transparency about the mass timber industry among our membership base and partners in our community. Sustainability is one area in which the mass timber industry relies on opaque assumptions and misleading headlines.
MYTH:
Mass timber construction is more sustainable than steel construction.
FACT:
Many claims about mass timber’s sustainability are misleading and overstated, while the superiority of steel’s sustainability is undeniable and backed by hard data.
This recent seven minute CBS segment takes a closer look while visiting Portland, OR’s massive airport addition being built from mass timbers. While the structure looks impressive, the damage to our forests is real and the people profiting from this design choice opt not to be transparent about the damage, while claiming it satisfies our country’s goal of using sustainable products.