THE CHALLENGE

The Sustainability Challenge

Until now, waste MDF has been considered unrecylcable, leading to millions of tonnes being discarded to incineration and landfill every year.  A global problem.

This has a significant financial and environmental cost and as global sustainability pressures mount, the need to adopt circular economy practices has never been more urgent.

Recovery of wood fibres from MDF waste could assist manufacturers to:

• Reduce their reliance on virgin wood, relieving pressure on standing forests
• Lower timber raw material costs by up to 50%
• Help the industry become more sustainable and lower carbon emissions

Without viable recycling solutions, MDF producers risk falling behind as sustainability expectations intensify.

The Supply Challenge

The increasing cost of virgin wood, coupled with global deforestation concerns and EU regulations, has created a significant supply challenge for manufacturers including:

• Rising timber prices, driven by supply constraints and high demand
• Difficulty sourcing high-quality, affordable raw materials
• Regulatory pressure to reduce deforestation

In addition, demand for recycled content, like IKEA’s goal of 15% recycled MDF content by 2030, means the need for sustainable alternatives is growing rapidly.

Recovering high quality wood fibres from MDF waste can mitigate some of the supply challenges, reducing reliance on virgin timber, stabilising costs and meeting consumer demand.

The Waste Management Challenge

Disposal of end of life MDF, through incineration or to landfill is:

• Expensive
• Wastes a valuable resource
• Destroys future value and releases carbon

Solving the waste management challenge

• The use of advanced cleaning and sorting technology from PAL can separate MDF waste from other materials with a 95% success rate
• Using patented ohmic heating technology, wood fibres can be effectively disaggregated removing glue used in production
• MDFR’s low cost, low energy MDF recycling technology can be scaled to meet all waste management challenges