Strategies for increased circularity in the wood processing industry (CirkuTrä)

Research Project, 2023 – 2028

Wood is something everyone has a relationship with and that we use daily; we furnish our homes, our schools and our offices with wood. In a forest-rich country like Sweden, it is easy to take wood raw materials for granted, but there is already a shortage of certain raw materials today, and the shortage is expected to increase both nationally and globally. At the same time, it is thrown away annually large quantities of wood products that could very well have twice as long a life. A sustainable alternative is to let these products have one or more new life cycles through reuse and remanufacturing. Our overall aim is to increase the wood processing industry's ability to manage circularity by contributing to knowledge development about reuse and remanufacturing.

In the future, it should be natural for the customer that circular products are the first choice and that the product is equivalent and of high quality regardless of whether it is new or remanufactured. In this program we map the conditions for sustainable remanufacturing and develop technical and organizational solutions for efficient and profitable remanufacturing of wood products. Among other things, we develop production and design guidelines for efficient remanufacturing as well as a framework for sustainable industrialization. The economic, ecological and social impact of the results produced is evaluated at industry and community level and new forms of cooperation are proposed. By forming an arena for circularity and remanufacturing, knowledge is created and spread at national and regional level.