At the world’s leading trade fair for the woodworking and wood‐processing industry, LIGNA, IBHolz presented two research projects on the topic of the circular economy. Both projects are coordinated by IBHolz and carried out together with 15 additional partners. In both initiatives, the overarching question concerns the handling of hazardous and contaminant substances.
In the research consortium “Recycling for Reuse,” the aim is to process old timber beams so they can be reused as new building components. This requires identifying and eliminating any hazardous or contaminant substances.
In the research consortium “Design for Recycling – Holztafel 2.0,” the focus is on designing new timber buildings so that, at the end of their service life, all materials can be recovered as secondary raw materials for new products. Because hazardous substances are no longer an issue in newly constructed buildings, the project concentrates on creating structures that allow for a clean, single‐stream deconstruction with minimal effort. The goal is to avoid any contaminant materials that would complicate the recycling process.