Improving Particle Board Recycled Content

15th March 2023

MDFR has started a research programme, sponsored by France’s EcoMaison, into closed loop recycling for waste particleboards.

The 12 month study, in partnership with Bangor University’s BioComposite Centre will investigate the potential of MDFR’s technology to increase recycled content within particleboard production whilst maintaining high quality output.

The use of recycled material in particleboard production is common. However, current processing methods tend to degrade the fibre size of recycled wood feedstocks and increase dust generation, potentially impacting finished particleboard quality and performance.

Material generated by state-of-the-art hammer milling will be compared to the output of board that has been shredded and processed via MDF Recovery’s recycling technology. Fibre recovered from each stream will be analysed and compared for size distribution, with the buffer capacity of the material analysed to assess any likely impact on resin cure as the next generation particle board is manufactured.

The viability of increasing the ratio of waste particle board that MDFR’s technology could introduce back into production of new particleboards, without negatively impacting the quality or performance of the final product, will be established.

A historic player in the sorting, collection, reuse and recycling of furniture and bedding, Eco-mobilier’s activity was extended in 2022 to include building construction products and materials, DIY, garden items textile decorative materials. Renamed Ecomaison, the organisation has become the first multi-sector and multi-material home eco-organisation in Europe.