A.n the fact that there is too much carbon dioxide in the air because mankind has been burning fossil fuels for more than two centuries cannot be shaken. The question is how do you get it out again? Perennial plants, as natural reservoirs, make a significant contribution to this: a beech tree with three cubic meters of wood has removed around three tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Of course, success will not be sustainable if the wood is burned in a few hours. It is better to make something lasting out of it.
For example in construction. Wood is resilient and looks good, although in many applications the property that the natural material works depending on humidity and temperature is a problem. That is why wood-based materials are used there, which are less elastic than the grown fibers, but retain their shape. There is a wide variety of fiber and chipboard on the market, from the simple standard to materials with special properties such as moisture-resistant or flame-retardant, which no longer have much in common with the panels used in simple furniture.
Whatever has become of it, at some point the end of its life will be reached. Then the plates are threatened with death by fire in the waste incineration plant. Or you can breathe a second life into them. Thanks to a multi-level cascade use, the wood remains in the cycle, says Boris Gorella, the managing director of the newly established traditional company Pfleiderer. The manufacturer of high-quality wood-based materials with a focus on kitchens and furniture from Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz is therefore increasingly relying on recycled wood. His company is a pioneer in this technology and a leader in the industry, explains Gorella.
Around 85 percent of the processed raw material fell under the umbrella term recycled wood, and the trend is rising, says Frank Herrmann, who as managing director is responsible for technology and sustainability. Around half of this is made up of waste from sawmills from sawn timber production, the other half is recycled wood from products that have already been used by end customers. The remainder is thinning and damaged wood from forests near the production facilities that are certified for sustainability; it has usually fallen victim to storms or the bark beetle. “No tree has to be felled for our products,” says Herrmann. The pellet industry is also increasingly competing for this wood.
Material that is too coarse is chopped up again
This makes the cycle all the more important. The processing is a complicated process, the aim is to remove impurities from the old material in such a way that the recyclate has the same quality as the new material. It already starts in the upstream stage, because the disposal companies deliver it shredded and roughly pre-sorted; it comes from bulky waste, the demolition of buildings or old pallets, among other things. Such wood residues are classified according to the Waste Wood Ordinance; anything contaminated with wood preservatives or paint must be sorted out beforehand. On arrival, the goods are checked and the moisture measured, because you pay for the dry matter. If the contamination is too high, the laborious separation process is not worthwhile, the material goes straight to the in-house incineration plant, which supplies energy and process heat for drying.
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