NETHERLANDS - Unilin has concluded an exclusive partnership with Dutch company Wood Loop to recycle more wood waste together.

This minimises the volumes of incinerated waste and allows Unilin to place maximum focus on recycling in order to manufacture more patticleboards using recycled material. Yet another step towards a circular economy.

For a number of years, Unilin has been committed to recycling. “For some time now, the wood mass of the particleboards we manufacture in our plants has consisted of 90-95% of recycled wood”, says Kristof Van Hoye, Group Project Manager Circular Economy at Unilin.

Wood Loop was founded by the Koninklijke CBM, the Dutch industry federation for interior design and furniture industry. The organisation offers every wood processor, retailer and panel material manufacturer in the Netherlands an interesting formula to recycle their surplus chipboards. Next year MDF will also be added to the list.

“The furniture industry obviously uses a lot of panel material”, says Wood Loop’s Dirk van Deursen. “In the Netherlands their consumption even accounts for one third of the total wood stream, or 635 kilotonnes per year. One sixth of those new panels that furniture makers or interior builders use in their manufacturing process unfortunately ends up in the waste container. Thanks to Wood Loop, Unilin can recycle these surpluses. This enables the group to cut its overall CO2 emissions by 95,000 tonnes.”