Wood Recycling

Wood Recycling

Approximately 1.6 billion cubic metres of timber is harvested worldwide each year, and of this the UK consumes 50 million cubic metres, two thirds of which is imported, mainly from Scandinavia and the Baltic.

Wood Recycling:Our biggest use of softwood in the UK is for construction, whilst the hardwood we import from Europe and North America tends to be used for furniture and interiors. A large proportion of imported wood, about 48%, goes to make paper.

Households in the UK produce around 420,000 tonnes of waste wood annually; pallets and crates, ie waste packaging, creates 670,000 tonnes and a further 750,000 tonnes of waste wood come from the construction and demolition industries.

Almost all soft and hardwood materials, including pallets, can be recycled; timber recyclers will also accept plywood. There are some restrictions relating to wood being sent for recycling, although as yet there are no set standards to adhere to. The restrictions relate to contamination; for example it is relatively easy to remove any ferrous contamination by using magnets, but other contaminants can cause problems, and so these must be removed before the wood goes for recycling, otherwise the processors may not take it.

Other exclusions are MDF, paper and card, laminated material, railway sleepers and sometimes chipboard.

Wood that does not meet the quality required for use as reclaimed timber can be recycled for a variety of purposes:-

Wood as a Composting Agent:

Airflow and decomposition can be improved in composting applications by using sawdust and wood chippings as a bulking agent.

Wood as a Mulch Agent:

Waste wood can be used as mulch which enriches soils, moderates soil temperature change, limits water loss, and it can also be used to prevent soil erosion;

Wood as a Bedding Agent:

Equestrian surfacing and pet and animal bedding;

Wood as a Fuel Agent:

Fuel – waste wood can be burned in timber fired boilers to produce heat;

Domestic Waste Wood:

This tends to be in such small individual quantities that unlike commercial pallets and packaging, there is very little that can be done so far as collection is concerned. Much of these small quantities ends up in landfill or goes for incineration, which is why it is important that we look for ways to reuse any domestic waste timber that we might have.