UK Seeks to Accelerate Wood Recycling

The Waste & Resources Action Programme has begun a capital grant competition to stimulate wood recycling in the United Kingdom. The goal of the funding is to increase manufacturing capacity for added-value wood products, as well as create new recycling capacity in the country where wood recycling is not as prevalent.

WRAP is a not-for-profit company in the private sector that receives funding from the UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The program, open to applicants from across the UK, requires interested parties to show that new sources of wood waste feedstock are being accessed and recycled, increasing the diversion of wood waste away from landfill.

Primarily intended to support small and medium sized enterprise, the program will provide grant aid of up to 30 percent of the capital costs involved in setting up new recycling capacity, including land, buildings, and machinery.

The funding program will contribute towards WRAP’s new business plan target to increase wood recycling capacity by 150,000 metric tons over the next two years, with an emphasis on the development of added value markets for recycling. It builds on research carried out to identify possible added value recycled wood products and assess their market potential.

Around 1 million metric tons of wood waste will be recycled this year, compared to about 50,000 metric tons 10 years ago.