MDF Manufacturer Abandons Wood Waste

Willamette Industries has discontinued the use of “urban wood waste” at its Eugene, Oregon medium-density fiberboard (MDF) plant. The company had pioneered the use of recycled wood from municipal solid waste collection sites starting in 1993 (see EBN Vol. 5, No. 2), when wood fiber prices were extremely high. Urban wood use at the plant peaked in 1994 at 60,000 tons, roughly 50% of the wood fiber use by the plant.

As wood fiber prices dropped during the past two years, urban wood usage went down, according to David Smith, the Technical Director at Willamette, and the plant is currently using no recycled wood. Addressing attendees of the Use of Recycled Wood and Paper in Building Applications conference in Madison, Wisconsin, this September, Smith said that at current wood fiber prices, it simply isn’t cost effective to use recycled wood. “Even if the wood comes free, you still have significant costs associated with it,” he said.