PTZW workshop explores options for increasing reuse and recycling of contaminated wood waste

Date: February 9th 2011

A Pathway To Zero Waste consultation workshop has examined the barriers that prevent more treated wood from being reused or recycled and explored possible options for removing them.

Held in Reading on February 9th, the event was aimed at organisations involved in manufacturing wood products and the management and recycling of contaminated waste wood, ie, wood treated with paints, preservatives, or impregnated with glue, oil or other environmentally-harmful substances.

Amongst the issues discussed were:

• the need to increase the alternatives to using treated wood as fuel, or to landfilling it, including the need to increase the range of products it can be turned into
• incentives for using treated wood as fuel, but no incentives for reuse or recycling
• the impacts of illegitimate operators, including distorting the market with cheap, poor quality products with dangerously high levels of contaminants and threatening the viability of legitimate operators.

Speakers included the Environment Agency’s senior advisor on industry regulation, Cormac Quigley, who provided an update of current waste management regulations and answered questions about enforcement of regulations.

Sarah Fairbrother from Defra’s local authority waste funding and governance team gave a brief outline of Defra’s Waste Review. The Review looks at all aspects of waste policy and delivery in England to ensure the right steps are being taken towards creating a ‘zero waste’ economy where resources are valued financially and economically and nothing gets thrown away. The results will be published in spring 2011.

John Fletcher from the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) mentioned the lack of waste wood recycling among small manufacturers and joinery companies. He said most companies buy more timber than they need and off-cuts often end up being burnt on site or taken to landfill. He also spoke about wood recycling projects run by the BWF.

Powerday’s Simon Little shared ideas on developing good infrastructure to manage waste recycling. He provided a brief overview of Powerday’s infrastructure which covers waste transport, storage, sorting and waste-to-energy provision.

Summarising the day, the Environment Agency’s Kent and East Sussex area manager said: “Overall, there are many issues. The bottom line seems to be that the range of potential contaminants in waste wood makes it difficult to assess environmental impacts. This poses significant challenges to developing end of waste criteria for certain end markets like animal bedding and energy from waste. However, a Quality Protocol is being developed for clean wood with this aim in mind.

“There is a growing recognition that significantly more waste wood could be reused as timber in construction and manufacture, making businesses more resource-efficient, profitable and better at reducing the demand for virgin material.”

The findings of the workshop will be published in a report in March 2011. The report will go before a panel representing industry and government. It is also expected that the delegates could form the basis of network that will seek to develop the recommendations of the report.

The draft Quality Protocol will go out to UK consultation on Monday 7 March. To get involved, visit the Waste Protocols Project web pages.