What is The Benefit of Recycling Wood?
Has no content to show!
According to the Wood Recyclers Association the UK alone generates over 5 tonnes of waste wood a year and this mainly comes from household waste, construction, demolition and across all industrial and commercial businesses. This is an absolute staggering amount of wood to waste and just goes to show the desperate need to recycle wood effectively.
Wood is a very highly valued material an example being oak and is one of the most versatile resources with the amount of uses it has. It is both durable and renewable and the trees are the lungs of our planet providing carbon absorption and promoting oxygen levels. Recycling wood and wood products not only helps to reduce landfill which can be harmful but also reduces the need to farm trees and forests.
There are so many uses for recycled woods such as chipboard or MDF, animal bedding, or mulch for gardening and even landscaping. Recycled wood is increasingly being used for energy efficiency, with many commercial premises using woods like woodchip for running their heating. Burning recycled wood for energy is now considered to be carbon neutral due to the large quantities of carbon dioxide absorbed by trees.
How Is The Wood Recycled?
When any waste wood is collected, the wood is taken to a Materials Recycling Facility or an MRF. At the facility, the waste wood is separated, then sorted and finally graded on a scale from A (good condition) to D (harmful). The wood is then transported elsewhere to be repurposed or recycled.
What Wood Can You Recycle?
Many recycling facilities will be able to recycle most wood products. Below are just some examples:
- All soft and hard woods
- Pallets
- Off-cuts, boxes, packing cases
- Floorboards
- Chipboard
- Plywood
- MDF (Medium-density fibreboard)
- Hardboard
The Benefits of Recycling Wood
- Reduces Landfill
The more wood we recycle, the less of it will end up in landfill site. Not only does the wood get repurposed new but it significantly reduces the damaging contributions to landfill and the harmful effects landfill sites can cause. Landfill sites are notoriously destructive through air and water pollution, so by recycling it can help reduce this harmful effects.
- Reduces Material Processing Costs
It is by far so much cheaper for manufacturers to use recycled wood when producing products. Newer materials require a higher level of energy output to extract and process, whereas with recycled materials, much of this process has already been completed. As an example making paper from pulped recycled paper uses 40% less energy than making it from non-recycled pulp. Manufacturing recycled paper uses less energy, water, and produces lower carbon emissions, than manufacturing non-recycled paper. It also significantly reduces the amount of waste sent to a landfill.
- Save The Tree
Due to the time that it takes for a tree to grow at to reach maturity alas replanting schemes are not enough to replenish trees felled for wood. Through recycling wood, less trees are needed to be felled reducing the impact on this natural resource, reducing carbon emissions and in the long term helping the environment.
- Fire
Wood must be properly managed and disposed of effectively as it is it highly flammable. You may scoff the thought that having large amounts of wood on a premises is a fire hazard, however accidents do happen and fires can be extremely dangerous and potentially damaging.
- Uses
Recycled wood has very many uses like being used to make furniture and is therefore one of the best materials to recycle.