Recycling of the Wooden Waste

Over the past few decades the world has seen a drastic reduction in the forest cover, which is a very important natural Carbon dioxide sink. Not only forests keep a check on carbon dioxide but also are important source of important medical herbs, timber and other resources which are important for human survival. Deforestation is causing the decline into this natural carbon sinks and also affecting drastically the organisms dependent on it.

India too has seen a rapid decline in its forest cover which led the government to take various measures to protect the forests and at the same time make available the fuels for the low income population which depends on wood as the source of fuel for them.

Waste generated in the forms of wood when dump into the environment or into the landfills do no good to the environment. Countries the world over have started to think on the recycling of these wasted wooden materials. Some of the important sources of Wooden Wastes are:

1. Municipal Solid Waste- The major municipalities with their residential and official buildings create a lot of waste which can be recycled and used for many other purposes. Among the main wastes that are created here are wood based adding to the problem of disposition and reuse.

2. Constructions and Demolitions waste- Wood is used during every new construction and development demands increase in infrastructure with constant repair work. Also, developing cities require constant pulling down of the old structures to be replaced by the new ones. This process of constant development generates a lot of wooden waste too.

3. Woods residues from lumber manufacturing- Lumber industry is the major source of wooden waste created due to cutting and processing of the timbers which leads to formation of small chips and ashes.

4. Waste from the packaging- Wood is widely used in the package industry where fragile materials or perishables like fruits and vegetables are usually packed in wooden boxes for transportation. Once these boxes have their work finished they are thrown into the dumps without any further use, pilling up the wood based wastes.

Some of the many benefits of Recycling Woods are given below:

1. Protects Environment- Recycling of woods means there would be lesser requirement of cutting down the trees for different purposes.
2. Saves Money- Recycling also reduces the cost of buying new materials especially which are easily replaceable with the reclaimed or recycled woods.
3. Greater durable Raw material- The older wood is better off in durability and strength as compared to newly made wood from the fresh timber. Thus, recycling of woods gives an option of durable raw material.

Governments from different countries have developed various recycling guidelines which aim to protect the forest and environment with maximum utilization of the wood in all forms.

Here we have compiled few ways in which the waste wood can be utilized in the best possible way:

1. Can be Used in Repair and Remodeling work- The main advantage of the recycling of the wood is to save the forest and trees. But the story doesn’t end here; this wood can also be used to carry out important maintenance work. Often good quality wood or timber is thrown as the waste because it may not have any utility for the owner. However these wastes can be a wonderful solution to the cheap repair material. Also, when you decide to remodel some part of the home or office area they provide you low cost maintenance.

2. Can be Used as Manure- The fine chips of the wood and the powder can be mixed with other organic waste to produce organic manures as they are rich sources of many important nutrients required for the plants growth. Thus saves the cost of buying separate plant nutrients from the market to enrich the soil.

3. Can be Used in Power Generation- The wood ash and chips can be used as the source of heat into the generation of the power using the environment friendly processes like gasification. The power that could be generated using the waste wood can easily provide electricity to a small village.

4. Can be Used in Production of Processed Products- Since wood is composed of many important commercial products, wood processing helps extract those oils etc. Also, there are different engineered wood available in the market which are stronger and durable in comparison to their natural counterparts. Wood processing also adds to the value of the products thus produced and minimizes the waste creation.