Wood Waste Study Provides Clues To Recycling Success

From BioCycle
Journal of Composting &Organics Recycling
July 2001, Page 68

LESSONS FROM REGIONAL ANALYSIS
WOOD WASTE STUDY PROVIDES CLUES TO RECYCLING SUCCESS
Detailed analysis of woody materials stream in North Carolina counties provides valuable data on methods, markets and policies that lead to profitable recovery.
Rhonda Sherman-Huntoon

SCRAP WOOD is a sizeable segment of the waste stream in six North Carolina counties served by the Triangle J Council of Governments (TJCOG) — Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Orange, and Wake. A recent waste characterization conducted at the region’s largest MSW landfill in Wake County estimated that scrap wood comprises approximately 22 percent. An estimated 31 percent of the material dumped at a construction and demolition debris landfill in neighboring Orange County is scrap wood. Not only could the life spans of the region’s landfills be extended by diversion, but local employment would increase if scrap wood were widely used in manufacturing.

Recently, several industries serving the region have become increasingly interested in scrap wood, including companies that produce compost, mulch, pulp and paper, and engineered wood products. This interest stems from increased consumer demand for recycled products and rising virgin wood prices.

Last year, a task force was formed to identify opportunities for wood reuse in North Carolina’s Triangle region. The group consisted of community solid waste managers, TJCOG staff, a wood and paper scientists, and a state market development specialist. Funding was provided for the project by local governments, some private companies, and the North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA). In April 2001, the TJCOG released two reports of the task force’s findings: Scrap Wood Availability in the Triangle J Region and Markets for Scrap Wood in the Triangle J Region.

SCRAP WOOD SOURCES

The project focused on three primary sources of scrap wood: Construction and demolition (C&D) projects, Companies that receive or use pallets or crates for shipping; and Wood products manufacturers (i.e., furniture or cabinets). The task force decided not to address the category of tree trimmings from yard debris or landscaping.

Previous surveys of C&D debris and annual county landfill reports were used to determine the amount and type generated by C&D debris projects in the region. Of an estimated total of 434,415 tons of C&D waste landfilled in the region in 1999-2000, 17 percent was clean wood. Seventy-five percent of the clean wood was solid sawn wood, and 25 percent was engineered wood.

The task force conducted a survey of pallet and crate users and wood product manufacturers in the TJCOG region to determine sources and characteristics. The survey requested information from 272 companies concerning the most common forms of wood waste: bark, cutoffs, pallets and crates, sander dust, sawdust, shavings and wood chips. Companies were asked to report if their wood waste was contaminated, whether the contamination was preventable, and what they do with scrap wood.

Of the 272 businesses surveyed, 245 responded, for a 90 percent response rate. Fifty companies claimed to have no wood waste, and of the 195 that acknowledged having some, 23 did not indicate the amount of produced. Therefore, the responses of 172 companies that reported estimates of the amount of wood waste they generated were used for the study.

Using the survey responses, combined with the previous waste characterization studies mentioned earlier, the task force was able to document at least 846,000 tons of the annual generation of scrap wood in the region (Table 1). “This is very conservative,” says Urs Buehlmann, in the Department of Wood and Paper Science at North Carolina State University, “but these numbers are a safe estimate.”

The task force was pleased to discover that a significant amount of scrap wood from nonconstruction sources is already being marketed for reuse. The 172 survey respondents reported that most of the bark waste is reused for mulch or boiler fuel, the majority of shavings go to a paper mill, most of the sawdust is reused for boiler fuel, and much of the wood chips are either sent to a paper mill or are used for engineered wood. The only materials of which the majority is sent to landfills are cutoffs and pallets. Table 2 shows the destinations of the various materials.

Instead of being reused productively, all 73,850 tons of the documented scrap wood from C&D projects were sent to landfills in 1999-2000. An additional 8,754 tons of wood waste were disposed of in landfills by the survey respondents. Besides the impact from low tipping fees of $24 to $25/ton at the area’s C&D landfills, Buehlmann, who coauthored the reports, offers other reasons for so much wood waste still going to landfills. “It’s due to lack of communication and difficulty in (generators) understanding that recycling facilities cannot usually pay them for their waste,” he says. “Waste generators need to be convinced that it doesn’t cost more to recycle wood waste and it’s a better solution to do something with it than dump it.”

An additional problem is that some of the scrap wood is not slated for optimal reuse, as it is either shipped out of the region and/or is reused in a low-value product. If more value were added to the wood waste locally, the task force concluded, it would result in nearer and higher paying markets for scrap generators.

EXISTING SCRAP WOOD MARKETS

The second report — Markets for Scrap Wood in the Triangle J Region — discusses existing markets for scrap wood, markets requiring additional economic development, and issues facing public decision-makers. Existing markets serve the Triangle for all of the major categories of wood waste, with the exception of limited markets for sander dust. Major existing markets for scrap wood generated in the Triangle J region are producers of compost, mulch, soil, wood pellets, boiler fuel and fiberboard; pallet refurbishers; and scrap lumber resellers. Furthermore, four companies collect scrap wood from C&D projects and/or pallets. At least four other companies will provide additional markets for wood residuals in the near future.

Currently, 25 companies make products from scrap wood generated in the Triangle J region, and four more are scheduled to open soon. Three of the businesses make compost, thirteen produce mulch, four make soil, 11 use it as boiler fuel, nine refurbish pallets, two use it for fiberboard, five resell it as lumber, and one manufactures wood pellets for cat litter and boiler fuel.

Mulch producers serving the Triangle J region provide markets for pallets, clean dimensional lumber, cutoffs, and small amounts of engineered wood cutoffs. Two of the mulch producers offer mobile grinding services to grind wood at construction sites for mulch to be used on-site. Three other companies collect scrap wood from construction sites and either grind it at their facilities or send it elsewhere for grinding into mulch.

Compost producers provide scrap wood markets primarily for shavings and sawdust, although some can accept wood chips, sander dust, ground pallets and clean construction wood, bark, and even engineered wood with cured adhesives. Currently, only one company in the Triangle uses wood waste to produce compost, although two more composting facilities with plans to accept scrap wood are opening in the near future.

NEW MARKETS OPENING UP

The second section of the report examines where to focus economic development efforts. Based on the information gathered, the task force concluded that five types of scrap wood recycling businesses should be encouraged to operate within the Triangle region to produce colored mulch, wood flour, wood pellets, wood-concrete wall forms, and fire logs. They also recommended that a pallet refurbisher be persuaded to locate close to the center of the Triangle.

Colored mulch production has lower start-up costs than the other larger-scale operations. The mulch is made by grinding scrap wood then coloring it with water-based dyes, and is sold in bulk or in bags for decorative landscaping. The preferred scrap wood for colored mulch is used pallets, followed by clean dimensional or other cutoff lumber. Consistency of feedstock is important because some types of scrap wood absorb dyes better than others.

The DPPEA earmarked funding for a pilot project to produce colored mulch. “We have a grant from the state to do a wood grinding and colored mulch production project to look at that as a potential market,” says Blair Pollock, task force member and Solid Waste Programs Manager for Orange County. “We’ll figure out how much engineered wood can be in the product, what kinds of dyes are best, and how much we can charge for the product.”

Wood flour production has captured the interest of Triangle leaders because it can be used as inexpensive filler for wood fiber-plastic composite products. The market for those products is expected to grow at least 50 percent annually for the next several years is expected for products using wood flour. A wood flour producer would have the equipment to also manufacture wood pellets for animal litter and boiler fuel, or wood chips for various uses.

Over the next decade, composting in the region is projected to expand significantly. If the expected increase in food residuals composting becomes a reality, there could be a substantial demand for wood chips as a bulking agent. A study conducted several years ago for a regional composting facility concluded that over half a ton of bulking agent, such as wood chips, would be needed for every ton of food scraps composted.

If the survey results are representative of wood waste management in general in the region, all of the scrap bark, shavings, sawdust and wood chips are being diverted from landfills and marketed for beneficial reuse. The major types of wood being sent to landfills are dimensional lumber, engineered wood, other cutoffs and pallets. Except for engineered wood, all of these materials already have markets in the region.

IMPACT OF ORDINANCES ON WOOD UTILIZATION

The task force concluded that communities could save a considerable amount of landfill space by banning or setting a substantial surcharge for clean dimensional lumber, other cutoffs, and pallets at landfills and transfer stations. For example, Orange County has a draft ordinance that will go before county commissioners this summer requiring developers and builders to divert wood, metal and gypsum wallboard from the landfill. The ordinance would require that most of the untreated, unpainted, nonengineered scrap wood generated in the county be separated and recycled. “We’re already seeing a response in anticipation of the ordinance’s passage,” says Blair Pollock. “There’s an increasingly greater amount of separated wood being brought to the landfill, and a couple of entrepreneurs are starting collection and/or materials processing businesses.”

Public-private partnerships are another action recommended by the task force. Local governments could designate land adjacent to solid waste disposal facilities for entrepreneurs to convert wood waste into usable products. Forging a public-private partnership also could significantly reduce the costs of grinding and processing scrap wood.

Now that the results of the study have been released, the next step for DPPEA and local governments is recruiting wood scrap manufacturers to the region. The Division can assist entrepreneurs with site selection, large-scale financing, and additional market work to help them find specific supplies of materials. “Now that the study is out,” says John Blaisdell, DPPEA’s Market Development Specialist, “we’ll be finding companies to use this wood waste. We’ll approach some businesses that are making wood pellets, mulch, and composite wood and bricks in other areas and try to recruit them to this region.”

Adds Judy Kincaid, TJCOG’s Solid Waste/Materials Resources Program Manager and co-author of the reports: “TJCOG has already been contacted by several corporate representatives considering expansion of their wood waste recycling efforts who found these reports extremely valuable.”

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