2. Material Flow
How much wood comes available from building renovations and demolitions?
Working together with housing corporations Rochdale and Ymere, CW4N tried to answer this question. Detailed information of renovation projects was collected and analyzed. The data is clear: the largest volume of wood comes from windows and doors. From 15 reviewed projects, a total of 466 m³ of wood could be harvested, forty percent of which (187 m³) would be suitable for new applications. This equals the wood volume that a forest as big as Amsterdam Oosterpark could deliver, if grown for 50 years. Failing to harvest and re-use wood from renovation projects is a loss of value, with huge negative implications for our planet.
(click to enlarge)
A material flow analysis (MFA) is a visual representation of materials flowing through a system for a set period of time. For the MFA shown here, 15 housing projects were analyzed. These are shown on the left side. In the middle, you can see what type of wood products come from these projects. The majority of the elements are frames and windows. These two together represent roughly 55% of all wood coming from those 15 projects. On the right, you can see what currently happens with these materials. The majority (roughly 62%) is being burned for energy recovery. The rest is being downcycled, mostly to chipboard.