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WoodCircus – Underpinning the vital role of the forest-based sector in the Circular Bio-Economy
WoodCircus project’s main goal is to promote wood-based value chains as a key part of a circular bioeconomy in Europe. This goal is pursued by studying, assessing and highlighting efficiency of wood-based value chains in the wood construction sector. It englobes the mobilisation and first transformation of wood, building and construction activities, production side streams, reuse and recycling aspects. Contributing to the development of sustainable societies, it is expected to create more employment predominantly in rural areas in Europe by connecting them to the urbanisation process.
Background
The construction sector has an enormous economic and social significance for the European Union, providing 18 million direct jobs and contributing about 9% of the EU’s GDP. About 70% of wood is used in the EU in construction and furnishings. At the same time, the construction sector represents one of the biggest sources of waste in terms of volume with approximately 70.5 million tonnes of wood waste generated annually. Currently, around one third of waste wood is recycled. The remaining part is landfilled or incinerated, and differences exist between the EU member states in wood recycling performance and technology readiness as well as in legal, policy and socioeconomic framework conditions.
The construction sector represents one of the biggest sources of waste in terms of volume with approximately 70.5 million tonnes of wood waste generated annually. Currently, around one third of waste wood is recycled.
To improve process efficiency and to enhance conscious management of natural resources, there is a need to assess the overall system’s performance and to identify transferable good practices to minimise the generation of waste. WoodCircus project links the challenges and opportunities within the resource efficiency and cascade use of wood and wood-waste to boost the competitiveness of woodworking sector and to enhance its sustainability performance.
