Agency approved for wood pellet certification
The American Lumber Standard Committee (ALSC) has announced that Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau will serve as a third-party auditing agency of the Pellet Fuels Institute's (PFI) densified wood pellet monitoring and labeling program, as administered by the ALSC.
Manufacturers of PFI-graded pellet fuels will be allowed to place labels on their packaging that assure consumers and retailers that the pellets meet the new standards. In order to use the PFI certification label, manufacturers must adhere to the PFI standard, which includes third-party mill inspections by an ALSC-accredited inspection agency as a part of the compliance procedure.
According to the PFI, at least 27 companies representing 41 pellet manufacturing mills have pledged to support the PFI standards program. PFI's membership includes approximately 60% of the pellet mills operating in the United States, according to PFI.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which will finalize its own regulations for residential wood heaters later this year, is expected to adopt the PFI standard for wood pellets.