Wood Products' Role in Renewability and the Circular Bioeconomy

Responsibly sourced wood products are excellent for renewability and the circular bioeconomy, as they come from renewable resources, are recyclable, and can biodegrade under suitable conditions. While recycling and biodegradation reduce waste, complete waste elimination may not always be ideal. Responsible end-of-life management, such as long-term carbon storage in landfills, offers a climate-friendly option that enhances wood resources' renewability and supports a sustainable future.

• British Columbia’s construction sector is coming full circle—and thinking differently about the environmental impact of materials they specify. They’re looking for ways to change from a ‘take-make-waste’ approach to a more circular economy. One that considers building materials beyond their end-of-life. When designed with this in mind, buildings, like biological processes themselves, can have a more regenerative life cycle. And naturally renewable products, such as wood, have an important role to play in this shift to more enduring, sustainable design.”

  “Wood, bamboo, hemp, straw, and other agrifiber are naturally renewable, reusable and biodegradable materials. From this view, sustainably harvested and manufactured naturally renewable products fit well into the circular economy.”

  “Timber building systems can be disassembled and refurbished with relative ease or used in different ways. Their value can be re-captured at the end of life.”

  “Considering the embodied energy represented by construction and demolition waste, and the implications of continued materials disposal, wood’s natural renewability makes it an effective building material for a low carbon future.”

  “Wood is a material well-suited to reuse, whether through the adaptive reuse of an existing structure or through deconstruction and disassembly. In particular, longstanding solid, heavy timber in existing buildings and structures is sought after for its durability and strength, along with its aesthetic beauty and historic significance.”

  “Wood is well suited to deconstruction and disassembly when a building’s original service life ends. Modern wood buildings can be designed from modular components that can be refurbished as required or remanufactured into new products. For instance, structural elements might be disassembled and set into new configurations over time or wood floors might be deconstructed and used for panelling”

  Reference: Article: Wood and the circular economy | Resources | naturally:wood

• “The wood product value chain (from the forest to the end of the product’s life) contributes to the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, because CO2 removed by trees is stored as carbon in products in use and in well-managed landfills.”

  Reference: Cover--I+IV final, Page 22