Troldtekt is a completely natural product made from wood and cement. Troldtekt is produced in Denmark and made from Danish raw materials – the wood is sourced from Danish forests, and the cement is produced by Aalborg Portland.

Wood
The wood which we use for Troldtekt is Norway spruce (Picea abies) from Danish forests. Wood is a renewable resource, and the trees in Danish forests are growing faster than they are being felled. Today, approx. 11 per cent of Denmark’s land area is covered by forest; in the early 1800s it was a mere 3 percent. In 1989, the Danish parliament, Folketinget, decided to double Denmark’s forested area in the course of one tree generation. In other words, by the 22nd century the forested area must total approx. 900,000 hectares, or more than 20 percent of Denmark’s total land area.

CO₂-neutral resource 
Wood is a CO₂-neutral resource. Trees remove some of the CO₂ from the air which would otherwise contribute to the greenhouse effect. Wood stores CO₂ in the form of carbon, and one cubic metre of wood contains carbon from approx. one tonne of CO₂. Carbon is stored in the wood both while the trees are growing in the forests, and when the trees are processed to produce wood products such as Troldtekt. Trees primarily grow on the basis of the natural resources available in the forests: solar energy, carbon dioxide (CO₂), water and nutrients (minerals). Very small volumes of fertilisers and plant protection products are used in Danish forests, and the amount of petrol and diesel fuel used for tree felling and transport to public roads is also very limited. Only approx. 1-2 kg of oil products are used per cubic metre of dried wood. By comparison, one cubic metre of dry spruce contains the same amount of energy as approx. 250 kg oil.

 

Sustainable  forestry
It is also possible to purchase Troldtekt which is made using PEFC-certified timber, which ensures sustainable forestry. PEFC stands for Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes and was launched in 1999. A PEFC-certified forest must live up to the European governments’ definition of and recommendations for sustainable forestry, as described in the Helsinki criteria (1993) and which have since been specified in greater detail in the Lisbon Resolutions (1998). PEFC started as a European initiative, but quickly spread to also include a number of non-European countries. Today, PEFC is recognised as a reliable global trade mark for sustainable forestry.

 

PEFC places special emphasis on ensuring that small forestry operations (like those in Denmark) have a realistic possibility of being certified, for example through certifying a group of properties rather than individual properties.

Labelling wood products based on wood from PEFC-certified forests ensures traceability. Thus, it is possible to trace the wood all the way back through the various distributors and the wood industry to the PEFC-certified forest through a so-called Chain-of-Custody certification of the companies involved. Read more on the PEFC Denmark website.

 

Cement
The cement used for Troldtekt comes from the Danish geology. Cement production is a resource-demanding process, but we only use cement from Aalborg Portland, a company which is subject to strict Danish environmental regulations. Aalborg Portland goes to great lengths to reduce the impact of its activities on the countryside and the environment, and focuses for example on the following areas:

Uses as much CO₂-neutral biofuel as possible in the form of biofuel from waste and pure biomass. The group also endeavours to use as much waste as possible as an alternative fuel.

Has introduced mineralised operations in the production of grey cement which requires less fuel and releases less CO₂ emissions. This change has, among other things, had a bearing on the hardening process of the grey cement which we use for Troldtekt - natural grey Troldtekt panels. However, the disadvantages are outweighed by the environmental benefits.

Recovers heat from the flue gases and uses it to supply the Municipality of Aalborg with district heating.

Recycles the filtrate water and thereby avoids impacting the area’s ground water resources.

 

Each year, Aalborg Portland prepares an extensive environmental report, which can be downloaded from the Aalborg Portland website. The website also provides detailed information about the company’s environmental goals and documentation for certified environmental management (EMAS) and ISO 14001.