Mr Tracey told letsrecycle that currently about 400,000 tonnes of recycled wood is used by the board industry. “Demand is increasing all the time and could reach a million tonnes.”
And, Mr Tracey advised waste transfer station operators and other collectors of waste where wood arises, to consider taking the wood out. “This has the advantage of cleaning up the rest of the waste and by taking it to a wood recycler has the attraction of saving on the landfill costs.”
With timber recycling in the UK a relatively new business, boosted by the fact that packaging waste recovery notes can be issued on wood material such as pallets, the demand from the chipboard industry is seen as a major boost to the market.
This is one of the reasons why following an initial meeting at Carlisle earlier this month the Wood Recyclers Association has been formally established, with nine members so far. The registered office is at Brampton, Cambridgeshire and is co-located with the British Metals Federation (BMF) and the Textile Recycling Association. Rick Wilcox, who retires as BMF executive director at the end of the month, will be the Wood Recyclers Association secretary on a part-time basis.
Operating environment
“The wood recycling sector has an exciting commercial and environmental story to tell”
The aim of the new association is to provide a service to wood recycling companies by helping to establish a favourable operating environment, providing a forum for discussion and providing information to assist members in their businesses. It will put the views of members to government departments and the agencies.
Mr Tracey commented: “Among the early priorities for the Association will be the areas of the packaging waste regulations, promoting the wood recycling sector which has an exciting commercial and environmental story to tell and contributing to the excellent work of the Recycling Industries Alliance.
“Indeed, the need to stimulate wood recycling forms part of the WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) business plan, and we look forward to working very closely with, and providing input to WRAP. There is tremendous potential to recover and recycle waste wood, and we especially welcome support for technological improvements in wood recovery and recycling.”
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