(UK)
One of the UK’s leading recycling and resource management organisations has announced it will invest £250,000 in one of the industry’s most exciting technologies.
SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK will give MDF Recovery the money to advance its pioneering recycling technology.
MDF Recovery recently concluded proof of concept trials to develop a commercially viable process to recover wood fibre from used or off-cuts of MDF to offer the first ever alternative to landfilling or incinerating MDF as part of an energy recovery solution for left-over MDF.
Craig Bartlett, Co-Founder and Managing Director of MDF Recovery, said: “The SUEZ investment provides a significant boost to MDF Recovery in our quest to commercialise the technology to make single use MDF a thing of the past. The recovered fibre produced by the process is of the same high quality as fibre obtained from virgin wood and can be used as a direct substitute in the manufacturing process. The timing of the SUEZ investment is perfect as we are already in discussions with a number of potential customers and partners within industry who recognise the significance of what we are doing. The MDF Recovery technology can be retro-fitted or designed into new plants and offers a robust solution for reworking waste and increasing the yield at the MDF manufacturing facility.”
Principal markets for MDF include the UK, Continental Europe, USA, Russia, Brazil and China. Demand for MDF products is increasing in Eastern Europe and Asia.
MDF Recovery’s solution generates a new secondary material source for the wood/natural fibre industry that displaces the need for new virgin materials and comes at a time when demand for virgin timber from many other sources is growing.
SUEZ and MDF Recovery have previously collaborated on an Innovate UK project within its Supply Chain Innovation towards a Circular Economy competition. The project focussed on introducing a closed loop recycling option for waste MDF, allowing manufacturers to take back material from their customers. A pilot plant was established and is currently being used to optimise the process and host demonstrations for industrial end users.
