Particleboard may be waste solution
Process would help decrease amount of used lumber sent to landfill sites
A research project funded in part by Metro Vancouver has found a way to turn some of the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of wood from the region’s demolished homes into something useful — particleboard.
A record 3,000 single-family homes were demolished in Metro in 2015, up from 2,500 the year before. In May 2015, Metro approached the University of B.C. and the Advanced Centre for Wood Processing to see if researchers could come up with new ways to keep wood from these homes out of landfills.
Felix Bock, who works at FPIn-novations and is a PhD student at UBC, and his team came up with the idea of using clean wood chips to make particleboard, which could then be made into products such as furniture or cabinetry. The idea came from Germany, where Bock said particleboard is made from at least 30 per cent recycled material.
The team did extensive research and made countless prototypes, proving that the idea of using up to 100 per cent recycled wood was both technically and financially feasible.
“That was the exciting part,” said Bock. “Now it is not just a theory.”
More than half of the waste from demolition and construction in Metro is wood, and wood waste is one of the largest components of the region’s waste stream. Almost 350,000 tonnes went to landfills and transfer stations in 2015. An estimated 25 per cent of that was clean wood that could have been recycled.
Clean, recycled wood from demolition and construction sites is currently turned into wood chips, some of which are bought by businesses such as Howe Sound Pulp and Paper, and used for fuel. Whatever isn’t sold is sent to landfills. About 425,000 tonnes of wood waste was recycled in 2014.
“It’s definitely better than sticking it in a disposal site, but we’re always looking for something better,” said Karen Storry, a senior project engineer in Metro’s solid-waste division. “When the opportunity came up to look at alternatives, we thought it was really great.”
Bock said it’s not as common to find particleboard made from recycled materials in North America as it is in Europe. The last particleboard plant in B.C. closed in 2008 and we import cheap particleboard from Asia and the U.S.
“There is more work to be done because there is no obvious solution for who would make the particleboard,” said Storry.
However, Bock’s team is preparing a “turnkey” package so that all of the research would be readily available if someone decided to become a manufacturer.
Storry said she’s very excited about the project, which she said is an example of how Metro is collaborating with member municipalities, academia and industry to make the region more livable.
The first phase of the project was funded by the Wood First Initiative. For the second phase, Metro provided $30,000 so that UBC and FPInnovations could continue the work. “We thought it was important,” said Storry.