Collaboration for the reuse and recycling of recyclable wood
Ragn-Sells Norway is a proud partner of the project sirkTRE - designed to boost the timber industry and construction industry in their green transition to full circularity. They will do that by ensuring that recyclable wood is reused in construction projects and as a raw material in the timber industry.
07 Sep 2021– This collaboration project will also help develop new solutions for the collection, sorting, increased reuse and recycling of recyclable wood, says Per J. Johannessen, Head of Planning and Strategy at Ragn-Sells Norway.
New green initiative to establish an entirely circular value chain for wood
In Norway, the volume of recyclable wood is roughly as high as the volume of wood used in construction projects. Most recyclable wood is turned into chips for energy recovery. The vision of sirkTRE is for forest owners, the timber industry, architects, consultants, contractors, waste and recycling operators, property owners and developers, research institutes and standardisation bodies to ensure that recyclable wood is recycled and reused.
sirkTRE has a target to use 250,000 cubic metres of Norwegian wood waste by 2024, equivalent to 100,000 tonnes, and 1 million cubic metres by 2030. sirkTRE will reduce emissions by 0.5 million tonnes of CO2 every year by 2024, and two million tonnes of CO2 every year by 2030. In 2030, this will be equivalent to a reduction of around four per cent of national emissions compared to the level in 1990. This includes the storage effect of biogenic carbon in wood, which accounts for a good 1/3 of the emission reduction.
The three-year sirkTRE project has a total budget of over NOK 180 million, of which support from Innovation Norway, the Research Council of Norway, and SIVA through the Grønn plattform scheme accounts for over NOK 105 million.
The project is managed by OMTRE, while NIBIO is managing the research part, circWOOD. Several companies and industries are making a significant contribution of their own to ensure the necessary research and innovation. The initiator of the project is Norwegian Wood Cluster (NWC).
In addition to the sirkINN innovation centre and the circWOOD research and expertise project managed by NIBIO, sirkTRE consists of four sub-projects. These are: sirkHELTRE, focusing on the reuse of all-wood solutions, sirkRESSURS, focusing mainly on reduced resource use, sirkREAL for the realisation of projects with circular wood products, solutions and designs for reuse, and sirkTEK for the development of new digital production technology.
The Grønn plattform scheme funds comprehensive projects related to the green transition with the ‘transition billion’ granted by the Storting in 2020. The ambition is to contribute to significant improvements in technology, processes, products, and services that make a positive impact on the climate and the environment.
