Educating tomorrow 's experts on wood recycling

Every day, container loads of wood waste are dumped at Norwegian recycling facilities.

“Currently, nearly ninety percent of our wood waste goes for energy recovery. Even though the amount of reclaimed wood is approximately equal to the amount of wood used in new construction," says Dr Lone Ross from NIBIO who leads CircWOOD.

The CircWOOD project explores the potentials and benefits of improved circular use of wood in Norway. Researchers are looking at resource availability of reclaimed wood, material flows, digitisation, environmental and climate impacts, economic effects, and policy frameworks.

“To succeed in an efficient and circular use of our wood resources, we need to increase knowledge and educate individuals with skills tailored to future tasks," explains Dr Ross.

Therefore, one of our most important deliverables is the education of Master and PhD candidates who can lead the research and development further in this area, even after the project is completed.

CircWOOD has employed three doctoral candidates affiliated with various research institutions. Several master's students are also working within the field.

Kristina Bringedal Gedde evaluates the quantities and qualities of reclaimed timber delivered to various recycling stations and is mapping the material flows of wood based on existing buildings and waste fractions.

Tom Erik Thorkildsen studies the overall socio-economic impact of transitioning from a linear value chain where wood waste is managed and incinerated, to a circular value chain where wood is systematically reused at its most valuable level.

Shumaila Khatri maps current regulations and attitudes that consumers and businesses have towards circularity.