Backed by a €20 million investment, Unilin is set to start recycling MDF on an industrial scale at its site in Bazeilles, France. This represents a great leap forward for the circular economy, as Unilin plans to make this innovative service available to the entire sector via Unilin Technologies. Source: Timberbiz
Until now, MDF items such as decorative panels, laminate flooring and production waste products were simply incinerated at the end of their life cycle.
What previously made the recycling of such products impossible was the glue used to bond the wood fibres. The key to making it possible was therefore to find a way to break down the glue molecules.
“What we’re actually doing is using steam to break apart the glue molecules in cooking vessels,” project engineer Stéphane Marthy said. “Ultimately, these are agro-industrial machines. To make them suitable for MDF recycling, we put them through a rigorous experimentation process to determine the optimal process parameters.”
After several years of prototype production, the testing phase finally successfully concluded, and the industrial production phase could commence.
“We’re going to be working with the same kind of machines, but this time they are custom-built for our needs, to handle far higher volumes,” said Yoann Raucourt, Production Manager for the Bazeilles site.
Right now, Unilin’s Bazeilles plant is already recycling 1500 kilos of MDF an hour, with the intention of exponentially increasing this rate from September 2025. This is the date on which the first MDF recycling line should go live.
“MDF recycling enables us to reuse the wood fibres in the product, storing the CO2 in the wood for longer, rather than being incinerated. The aim for the first phase of operation is to store 380,000 tonnes of additional CO2 per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of 211,000 cars,” said Julien Boucher, site manager at Bazeilles.
The €20 million investment will fund new industrial plants and equipment, as well as implementing new processes. Subsequently, Unilin will be able to offer MDF panels made from 30% recycled materials, with that proportion undoubtedly set to rise in the future.
To achieve this, two recycling lines will have to be created and integrated: the pre-consumer lines, handling waste generated by industrial customers (manufacturers of laminated products, etc.), and the post-consumer lines, processing consumer waste materials recovered at the end of their first life.
The company is keen to make this technology more widely available, through Unilin Technologies licensing. This will help develop and boost the circular economy of the panels and flooring industry.
