Contributing to the recent media debate around the growth of energy from waste plants and an associated rise in greenhouse gases, Lord Deben (John Gummer) ex environment minister and past chair of the Committee on Climate Change commented that the number of incinerators was beginning to “distort our ability to recycle”.
This touches on an issue pertinent to the wood panel industry. The UK manufacturers of chipboard recycle around 1Mt of reclaimed waste wood per year. A decade ago, half of this was coming from waste wood packaging. Today only a third comes from packaging and the overall quality has been dropping. It is the case that some of this ‘clean wood packaging’ is finding its way into animal bedding but we also know that material previously earmarked for recycling is instead being burnt for energy. The same is true for other waste wood arisings. Prior to the introduction of subsidies to support biomass energy development, the wood panel manufacturers were the largest consumers of waste wood. Today, whilst the sector remains the largest recycler of such material, this use is dwarfed by the volumes going to energy.
In a market distorted by subsidy, it was inevitable that demand for waste wood to energy would increase and I’m not arguing to turn back time because climate change and energy security are imperatives I agree with. However, there is a policy conflict between the Department for Energy (DESNZ) and the Department for the Environment (DEFRA) that needs to be squared and where the latter is seeking to promote circularity and adherence to the waste hierarchy. It’s all very well giving us different coloured bins and asking us to segregate plastics, paper and card etc but if it then all ends up in an energy from waste plant (as it does in my county), then circularity and recycling opportunity ends at the doorstep.
In the real world ‘money talks’ and whilst the volume of UK waste wood arisings can sustain the current energy fleet and material users such as the panel industry, it’s a balance that is close to a knife edge which could easily tip in favour of energy use were there to be either new subsidy support or an extension of existing (time limited) support for woody biomass to energy.
The global wood basket is coming under ever increasing pressure from both power/heat production, but around the corner is the spectre of potentially huge demand from sustainable aviation fuels and bio chemicals. As well as prioritising afforestation and the planting of fast-growing species to help ‘grow the basket’, this is a time to really focus on maximising the use that we can get from this valuable resource. Let’s not forget, at the eventual end of life after reuse and recycling opportunities have been exercised, wood and wood-based products can still be burnt for energy recovery.
