What do milk cartons, laptop screens and Montreal metro brakes have in common?
All of these products are made from wood fibre. A highly versatile fibre found in trees and shrubs. Fibre is mostly composed of lignin – compound that makes trees and shrubs strong and weather resistant — enabling them to live for a very long time. In short, a marvel of engineering.
Thanks to its exceptional characteristics, this renewable home grown resource offers a million and one possibilities to help the Quebec economy grow and prosper.
Small fibres. Big possibilities.
When we talk about wood products, the first thing that will most likely come to mind is paper. And it’s normal, because we use it every day. But your newspaper, toilet paper and writing paper are far from being the only forest products that are a part of your every day life.
From paint to medications to building materials, ping pong balls and make-up removers, the uses of wood are as numerous as they are varied. Wood residues can even be transformed into ecological and economicalfuel to replace fossil fuels.
What’s even more surprising? Your car’s windshield washer fluid may contain bio-methanol, a product produced in part by wood. Do you use public transit? The brake shoes of the metro are made from yellow birch — the arboreal emblem of Quebec.
A little detail that will surely generate a great deal of Quebec pride.
A sector firmly rooted in the lives of Quebecers.
In Quebec, 99% of single family homes are built with a wood structure. And this is no coincidence. Wood fibre has a huge natural capacity as an insulator and doesn’t conduct heat. Ideal in a country where we have to heat 6 months a year.
As wood supports your home, it also supports the economy. Because the Quebec forestry sector boasts 60,000 jobs, and an annual revenue of more than $16 billion. You can rest assured that our continual efforts to develop innovative new wood-based products will stand out as one of the pillars of our economy for a long time coming.