appropriately considered wood-filled plastics than engineered wood. Some plasticwood composites use virgin PVC along with cellulosic material; and even many uses of recycled PVC are environmentally destructive because they ultimately support new PVC production (see section below on PVC). And many forms of composite materials cannot be satisfactorily recycled at the end of their product lifetime. Leaving aside the plastic composites, the two principal issues concerning engineered wood are their fibre source and their binders. The use of small diameter trees and low-grade species like aspen, soft maple and yellow popular sounds good, but is not necessarily ecological in itself. Eco-foresters question, for example, whether the replacement of diverse hardwood forests with plantations devoted to aspen is a good thing. Being made of wood, engineered products should rightfully be certified in the same way other wood products are. Only in recent years, however, has green certification made inroads in engineered wood. In February 2003 the Composite Panel Association (CPA) rolled out an Environmentally Preferrable Product (EPP) program in order reduce the use of virgin timber in engineered wood products. Based on the U.S. EPAs Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program, CPAs specification is designed to ensure that EPP-certified products contain 100 percent recycled or recovered wood fiber. Certified products must also meet the standards set for formaldehyde emissions by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) (Boehland, 2003). Nevertheless, as of early 2005, the Environmental Building News (2005) Green Spec catalogue was listing only five sets of recommended products (some sets containing different dimension lumber of the same material) .