Wood recycling is a young, fast-growing industry with more opportunities than we ever imagined. From a piece of discarded wood we can make chips specifically for panel board production, for bio fuel, and as bedding for horses, cattle, chickens – or any other animal you can think of. We can make garden mulch, coloured landscaping and a variety of other products.
Growth on the scale we have experienced brings its own challenges, especially in terms of regulation. This is where the WRA comes into its own, liaising with government and keeping its members abreast of developments. We are currently working with the Environment Agency (EA) and the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to develop a quality protocol for our products. This will determine the stage at which post-industrial wood ceases to be a waste, and will potentially prove an enormous benefit to our members and their customers. We are also lobbying hard for a total ban on landfilling wood, something that will benefit not only our industry but also the UK environment.
Our principal customers have always been the board mills, and they have understandably dictated terms. But with the advent of biomass, and the incentives being offered for the development of bio fuel facilities, things are changing fast. This new market is tempting for wood recyclers, but we need to keep our feet on the ground.
We have always believed in the adage that if you buy it right you sell it right. Healthy gate fees have historically been an important part of wood recyclers' economics. We have found in this recession the shortage of clean pallet rejects has driven our gate fees down. Our fear is that, as more and more biomass plants come on stream, even the lowest grades of civic amenity wood waste will also become commoditised, and gate fees for these grades of wood will also fall. Since biomass plants are looking for long contracts with their suppliers, wood recyclers need to make sure that there is some contractual mechanism in place to cover this likely drop in gate fees.
With the end of the recession in sight and landfill tax increases driving wood away from landfill, the future is looking bright for our members.
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