Wood is a material that is directly derived from trees, a natural resource. Recycling wood is crucial to ensure that the existing forests are not depleted. Recycled wood can be used for a number of purposes such as building a bird cage in the garden or saw dust and wood shavings could be added to a compost heap. Recycling wood helps in reducing the cost of disposing of old and unwanted wood.
The amount of wood waste generated by the manufacture, use and disposal of solid wood products in the US in 2002 amounted to 63 million metric tones. This waste wood is derived from a number of sources, the two main sources being municipal solid waste and construction and demolition waste. Municipal solid waste is obtained from residential, commercial, industrial and institutional sources. Some of the common forms of wood waste that fall into this category include wooden containers, packaging, storm debris, damaged furniture, etc. One of the main sources of wood in MSW is old tables, furniture and cabinets, pallets, containers, scrap lumber and wood panels. Another important source of wood is yard trimmings.
Industries that process forest products contribute a lot of secondary wood fiber that can be recycled. Secondary wood fiber can be put to use in a number of ways. Some of them include use in bio fuels, paper and pulp applications. All wood that is recovered has a value, though the value varies from one wood to another. Wood can be classified into clean wood and mixed wood waste. Clean wood includes residuals from wood mills such as sawmill shavings. Other examples include forest residuals such as agricultural wood and urban residuals such as pallets, crates, lumber etc. Mixed wood waste consists of demolition wood waste and treated wood waste.
In Perth, Australia wood waste material is collected directly from manufacturing sites and is then taken to be re processed. This eliminates the need to look for wood wastes in landfills. The wood is sorted into three categories. Soft wood – which might have been used for packaging, crates etc. Heavy wood is the second category and includes heavy pallets, old cable reels, pine packaging and light colored timbers. Finally a pile of contaminated wood is separated and is rejected.
Wood can be reprocessed into a number of forms. These include creating new pulp and paper, reconstituted panel board and composite products. Most wood is recycled into paper as there is a shortage of raw materials for paper manufacturing. However the major quantity of recycled wood is used for biogas
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