Timber recycling or wood recycling is the process of turning waste
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
into usable products. Recycling timber is a practice that was popularized in the early 1990s as issues such as deforestation and climate change prompted both timber suppliers and consumers to turn to a more sustainable timber source. Recycling timber is the
environmentally friendliest form of timber production and is very common in countries such as Australia and New Zealand where supplies of old wooden structures are plentiful. Timber can be chipped down into wood chips which can be used to heat homes or generate electricity.
Benefits
Recycling timber has become popular due to its image as an environmentally friendly product. Common belief among consumers is that by purchasing recycled wood, the demand for "green timber" will fall and ultimately benefit the environment. Greenpeace also view recycled timber as an environmentally friendly product, citing it as the most preferable timber source on their website. The arrival of recycled timber as a construction product has been important in both raising industry and consumer awareness towards deforestation and promoting timber mills to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.
Recycling one ton of wood can save up to 18,000,000 btus of energy.
Drawbacks
Some hurdles facing the widespread adoption of recycled timber: sometimes the ends of wall studs need to be trimmed off to stop decay and cracking, thus resulting in a shorter piece of wood; this trimming may result in pieces of wood that do not meet building codes. Though the price may be less than for new wood, the process of selecting usable pieces of salvaged wood, pulling out nails, and refinishing for a new use can be laborious and time-consuming. Demolition must happen in such a way as to preserve as much of the timber as possible in a building, which means more time spent dismantling a building rather than just tearing it down quickly. The trade in recycled timber is not well-established everywhere, so a reliable supply of usable wood may be hard to come by for builders. There may be a stigma associated with using "used" or "cheap" wood that is perceived to be of not as high quality as "new" wood. Not all pieces of wood in a dismantled building will fit in a new building, and it may be cheaper and easier, from a design and labor perspective, to simply get new wood (ex: wood from a 6-foot (1.8 m) deck being used in a 7-foot (2.1 m) deck). Of course, none of these issues are insurmountable, and they are issues of convenience and logistics rather than structural integrity, but many builders find it easier and less time-consuming to simply get new wood in standard uniform sizes.
Recycling timber
Recycled timber most commonly comes from old buildings, bridges and wharfs, where it is carefully stripped out and put aside by demolishers. At the same time any usable
dimension stone
Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and finished (e.g., trimmed, cut, drilled, ground, or other) to specific sizes or shapes. Color, texture and pattern, and surface finish of the stone are also normal requirements. A ...
is set aside for reuse. The demolishers then sell the salvaged timber to merchants who then re-mill the timber by manually scanning it with a metal detector, which allows the timber to be de-nailed and sawn to size. Once re-milled the timber is commonly sold to consumers in the form of timber flooring, beams and decking.
Examples
Use of recycling timber is not new. As early as 1948, the 100 metre tall tower of
Golm transmitter
Golm transmitter or Sender Golm was a medium wave broadcasting facility on the area of a former ''Reichsarbeitsdienst'' officer candidate school at Kuhforter Damm in Golm near Potsdam. It entered service in 1948 as the central broadcast transm ...
near Potsdam, Germany was built from recycled timber. It stood for 31 years.
It was common to reuse wood of dismantled radio towers in the 1930s in Germany, e.g. the former tower of
Koblenz radio transmitter {{coord, 50, 22, 36, N, 7, 35, 6, E, display=title
Transmitter Koblenz (German: ''Sender Koblenz'') was a medium wave transmitter broadcasting in the Koblenz-Luetzel area. Until 1965, Transmitter Koblenz used a 107 metre tall wood tower, which was ...
was built of wood from a dismantled tower, which carried a T-antenna at
Transmitter Muehlacker
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to th ...
. The upper parts of the 157-metre-tall wood tower of
Ismaning radio transmitter
The Transmitter Ismaning was a large radio transmitting station near Ismaning, Bavaria, Germany. It was inaugurated in 1932. From 1932 to 1934 this transmitter (which replaced the Stadelheim Transmitter at Munich-Stadelheim) used a T-antenna a ...
, which stood for 49 years, were built of wood from a smaller radio tower dismantled in 1934.
See also
*
Denailer
A denailer is a tool for removing nails from lumber to facilitate its reuse. Two types of ''denailer'' are available:
* A stationary ''denailer'' is a machine designed for single-purpose use, e.g. pallet refurbishing.
* A ''portable denailer'' ...
*
Dimension stone
Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and finished (e.g., trimmed, cut, drilled, ground, or other) to specific sizes or shapes. Color, texture and pattern, and surface finish of the stone are also normal requirements. A ...
– stone recycling and reuse
*
Lumber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
*
Nash Timbers
Nash Timbers is a global and domestic distributor of timber flooring, joinery, and beams.
The company, based in Sydney, Australia, was founded in 2003 by David Nash. Nash Timbers is notable for its stance on ''green timber'' and for its role ...
*
Natural building
A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renew ...
*
Recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
*
Sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
References
* Falk, Robert H.
North American Wood Waste Forum: Summary of Group Feedback, February 2–3, 2012.' Madison, Wis.:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
,
Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 2012.
External links
The Salvo Global Directory of specialist reclaimed timber dealers
{{Portal bar, Trees
Energy conservation
Recycled building materials
Recycling by material
Timber industry