Over 97% of UK waste wood was sent for processing in 2023, the “highest level to date”, according to the latest annual statistics published by the Wood Recyclers’ Association.
The data indicates that total UK waste wood arisings remained constant in 2023 at approximately 4.5 million tonnes and the amount processed rose from 4.312 million tonnes in 2022 to 4.408 million tonnes.
The Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) said this continued the year-on-year pattern of growth since the market was temporarily disrupted by Covid in 2020.
The data is produced by the WRA using the results of its annual survey of members which are extrapolated and combined with other data sets to produce total UK figures.
The WRA said its members accounted for 3.92 million tonnes of waste wood processed – representing approximately 90% of the market.
Large-scale biomass continued to be the largest user of waste wood in 2023, accounting for 63% of wood processed (2.8 million tonnes), an increase of 2.6%, according to the statistics.
Panel board remained the second largest user of waste wood and accounted for 22% (963,000 tonnes) of wood processed.
The waste wood market is well positioned for 2024 with environmentally compliant markets for all domestic waste wood arisings.
This represents a 5% decrease compared to 2022, which the WRA said is due to a depressed housing market which saw overall production reduce alongside the closure of the West Fraser South Molton manufacturing plant.
Animal bedding, equine surfacing, other recycling and reuse increased during the year to 350,000 tonnes, representing 8% of wood processed – up 9% year-on-year as the animal bedding sector recovered from the impact of avian flu in 2022.
Exports/imports netted off rose to 205,000 tonnes from 130,000 tonnes in 2022, which accounted for 5% of all wood processed. Usage in small-scale biomass remained static at 90,000 tonnes, representing 2% of the market.
The remainder of the 4.5 million tonnes of waste wood is believed to go to informal markets, such as being burnt during bonfire night or at home, the WRA said.
Commenting on the statistics, Julia Turner, Executive Director of the WRA, said: “We are delighted to report another record year for waste wood processing which shows that supply and demand is now well balanced and we have well-developed markets for all waste wood.
“We are particularly pleased to see a healthy increase in wood being sent for animal bedding, equine surfacing, other recycling and reuse and hope this will increase even further in future if we are able to include all the wood sent to reuse hubs and pallet reuse.
“The waste wood market is well positioned for 2024 with environmentally compliant markets for all domestic waste wood arisings.
“We are confident that as demand reaches full capacity, the remainder of unprocessed wood will find its way into formal rather than informal markets, providing the best environmental outcome for this valuable resource.”
