Wood Recycling

How to recycle wood?

Wood recycling involves collecting discarded wood products, such as pallets, furniture, and construction waste, and processing them into new materials. The process starts with the collection of wood from different sources, followed by sorting into different categories. The sorted wood is then processed to remove any contaminants, such as nails, screws, and metal brackets. The processed wood is then chipped into small pieces, screened to remove any large or irregular pieces, and ground into a finer material known as wood mulch. Wood mulch can be composted to produce a high-quality organic soil amendment or burned as a fuel source to produce heat and electricity.

When recycling waste wood, it must be processed in several stages – mainly including these steps:

• Receipt, weighing, and quality control
• Sorting in accordance with the waste wood grades
• Primary shredding
• Separating of recyclable material (e.g. metals)
• Secondary (fine) shredding/granulating

Recycled wood grades:

• Grade A: "Clean" recycled wood – material produced from pallets and secondary manufacture, etc., and suitable for making animal bedding and mulches.
• Grade B: Industrial feedstock grade – including grade A material plus construction and demolition waste, is suitable for making panelboard.
• Grade C: Fuel grade is made from all of the above material and municipal collections and civic amenity sites and can be used for biomass fuel.
• Grade D: Hazardous waste – This includes all grades of wood, including treated material such as fencing and trackwork, and requires disposal at special facilities.

(Many wood recycling companies define wood waste as 'clean,' 'dirty' – or mixed).

Wood waste management advantages

Successful wood waste management practices and strategies are developed to reduce environmental impacts, save costs, and provide new opportunities.

Environmental impact - The first and most important benefit of wood recycling is saving the trees. Wood recycling also helps reduce environmental impact by preventing less trash from ending up in landfills.

Energy conservation - Recycling wood can reduce the need for virgin wood and energy-intensive manufacturing processes, leading to energy conservation.

New opportunities - Wood waste recycling provides opportunities that keep up with evolving customer demand for recycled products, for example, the expanding avenue of renewable power in the form of biofuel. The sources for biomass feedstock include industrial wood waste, lumber yards, industry wood residues, urban tree waste, and municipal solid wood waste, including construction and demolition debris.

Wood recycling companies

Wood recycling companies differ in the range of products they make from waste wood, but the most common products are feedstock for panel board, animal beddings (from clean wood), and biomass fuel. Each wood recycling center will provide more information on its products.

Where to recycle wood?

Wood waste is not accepted in your household recycling bin, but you can take it to most household waste recycling facilities. We recommend checking with your local community in the first instance. Other facilities where wood can be recycled include:

1. Waste management facilities: Many waste management facilities accept wood waste for recycling, and often have separate areas for clean and contaminated wood.
2. Recycling centers: Many communities have recycling centers that accept a variety of materials, including wood, for recycling.
3. Scrap yards: Scrap yards that specialize in metal recycling may also accept wood waste for recycling.