Recent research by WRAP (www.wrap.org.uk) puts the volume of waste timber generated annually in the UK at around 4.5 to 4.6 million tonnes (mt). This is a huge reduction on previous figures and reflects among other things, a more sophisticated estimating methodology and the impact of the recession. This wood waste comes from four main streams:

• Packaging waste - including pallets, crates, cable reels etc. (1.2mt)

• Construction and demolition (2.3mt)

• Industrial - including furniture manufacturing, joinery and other wood products manufacturing (0.5mt)

• Municipal; wood waste from the domestic waste stream that ends up at the local “tips” (0.6mt)

Of the approximate 1.8 million tonnes of waste timber that is currently being diverted from the waste stream, the majority (about 58%) is bought as woodchip by the panelboard industry for re-manufacture into chipboard, MDF and other wood composites. There are five chipboard factories in the UK and they are located in north Devon, north Wales, Merseyside, Northumberland and Scotland.

The second most popular use of woodchip from recycled wood is for the production of carbon–neutral electricity in power stations. The 30MW Wilton 10 plant on Teeside has been built specifically to use biomass and burns substantial quantities of recycled wood. A 350 MW wood – fired power station has been built in Port Talbot, south Wales and could contribute up to 70% of the Welsh Assembly’s 2010 renewable energy target.

A wood chipper can process many tonnes of wood per hour. The nails, screws and other ferrous metals must be removed by magnets. These machines can cost £200,000 or more.

With the challenge of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, woodchip from clean wood waste can provide an easily available source of “sustainable energy” and its contribution to overall electricity supply is set to double over the next few years as more plants become operational.

This will have a positive impact on wood recycling as the increased demand for woodchip will raise the price and encourage a greater proportion of waste wood to be rescued from the waste stream.

Another development in wood recycling is the increase in the use of woodchip for smaller scale heating systems in all sorts of buildings – from the Welsh Assembly building to schools, factories and even multiple domestic dwellings; catching on to a trend that has been popular in some parts of Europe for many years.

This is a delivery of woodchip into a relatively small building that has a wood–fired heating system. The chips are blown into the chipstore. This kind of system is becoming more popular as the cost of the heating equipment falls and the availability of woodchip increases.

Animal bedding (especially for poultry and horses), equine surfaces (rides, gallops and arenas) and mulches also absorb woodchip from waste wood and some is used for making wood pellets and for surfaces for playgrounds and footpaths.

 

Woodchip is also used for paths, tracks and forest rides. If used for gallops or for playground areas, to be safe the material must be free from contaminants - such as glass, stone or metal.

 

 

 

 

But there is still several million tonnes of wood waste that is ending up in landfill every year!

All the uses mentioned above generally need woodchip that is made from uncontaminated timber and exclude most preservative treated or painted wood and sheet materials. So the majority of wood that is recycled at the moment is the pallet and packaging waste, (which needs minimal sorting), or the clean residues from wood processing. Because it is considered “dirty”, is of very mixed quality and needs lots of sorting, far less construction wood waste is rescued.

And of course, it is all being “downcycled” into woodchip.

Although far better than disposal, this is potentially a great waste of resources, as a significant proportion of the wood waste stream is material that is perfectly reusable. By getting it reused, we could help reduce our demand for imported virgin timber - which has an increasingly large environmental footprint – reduce our balance of payments and of course, create jobs.

Apart from some items that are taken by the architectural salvage industry, it is only the community wood recycling model - promoted by the NCWRP that focuses on the construction sector. They are “pushing” a significant quantity of builder’s wood waste up the waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle) into reuse. The NCWRP’s figures show that around 10% of the timber waste coming out of the building industry is reusable – that could be as much as 460,000 tonnes every year – and research shows it is the same virtually everywhere in the country, so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with community wood recycling and help make a positive impact on wood waste in the UK.

With the wood recycling industry as a whole set to expand and plans to open many more community wood recycling enterprises in the next few years, more of this wonderful resource will be rescued, reused and recycled - not only bringing economic benefits, but helping reduce carbon emissions and take some pressure off our fragile environment too.

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