Collection and fate of wood waste from new construction, demolition and renovation of buildings: GDBAT

25.052022

Wood ConstructionEnvironment

The statistical data available on wood waste from the construction industry did not allow, until now, to estimate the possibilities of development of recycling and energy recovery of this waste. In this context, the professional organisations members of CODIFAB and FBF have entrusted FCBA and Xerfi Specific with a study aiming to better understand the management of end-of-life wood construction products.

The aim was to :

Quantify and qualify the amount of end-of-life wood construction product waste generated by renovation, demolition and new construction sites,
To know the modalities and the distribution of material recovery, energy recovery and landfill.

A survey of wood waste producers was carried out. All the building trades concerned were questioned. The professional associations for waste management, recycling and recovery also contributed to the data collection.

After analysis, the total amount of wood waste in 2019 represents 2.3 million gross tonnes from new construction, renovation and demolition sites. The material recovery rate is 44.5%, 42% recycling and 2.5% reuse, and the energy recovery rate is 48% (including cement plants). Finally, landfill concerns 7.5% of wood waste from the construction industry.

The environmental performance of wood products is another important issue in this improvement of knowledge of waste management. In order to better establish the carbon footprint of wood products, it is necessary to value the gains linked to recycling and energy recovery. The revision of the end-of-life scenario and LCA models for wood construction products, based on reliable statistical data, is therefore necessary for the quality of the EHDS.