Target: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
Location: Wrexham, Wales, and Inverness, Scotland
Date: 29 October
- The Lowdown
Workers at the Norbord wood panel manufacturing plant between Inverness and Nairn, and at the Kronospan chipboard factory at Chirk near Wrexham, downed tools last Friday as part of a protest against green subsidies. They walked out in support of the European Panel Federation's Day of Action, which brought the European wood panel industry to a standstill.
- Why the protests?
Wood panels are made from virgin and reclaimed wood - the same materials that electricity-generating companies are subsidised to burn under the UK Government's Renewables Obligation. The federation says generators can pay more than twice as much as the wood panel industry, distorting the market and driving wood prices up by more than 30 per cent over the past four years.
- How did DECC respond?
A spokesman for DECC told the BBC: 'Support through the Renewables Obligation for electricity from wood is based on the costs of generation.'
- Media treatment
The news was picked up in the local press in Wales and Scotland, including WalesOnline and The Press and Journal in Aberdeen. It was also covered at Letsrecycle.com.
