C&D Department

YANKS HEAD TO EUROPE

A delegation of American engineers, highway contractors and state and federal government employees will be heading to Europe to study road-building techniques there that use recycled materials.

The Federal Highway Administration is organizing a tour for about 15 delegates to travel to Europe in September to study techniques in asphalt and concrete recycling taking place in nations such as Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and France. The delegates will also share information with their European hosts on road building recycling methods used in America.

The 1999 tour is being sponsored by the Recycled Materials Research Center (RMRC), a newly-formed center located in Durham, N.H.

FIRST MDF PRODUCED FROM WASTE WOOD

Contractors in California now have a new destination for waste wood produced at construction and demolition job sites.

Kafus Environmental Industries and its subsidiary, The CanFibre Group Ltd., Toronto, have announced the first production of medium density fiberboard (MDF) made of 100% post-consumer waste wood.

The CanFibre AllGreen facility in Riverside, Calif., has now successfully commissioned all chipping and screening equipment, the chip washer, all safety controls, the resin application system, dryers, and all steam-pressing equipment. The first commercial shipments of the MDF began this summer.

The company has also received Underwriters Laboratories approval for its AllGreen MDF line to be used as solid cores in 30-minute fire-rated doors. The company will also be testing to receive a 60-minute rating as solid core material.

“CanFibre is prepared to make history in the forest products industry by proving that high-quality panelboard can in fact be produced profitably from alternative and renewable resources,” says CanFibre president Chris Carl.

 “Clean urban waste wood is a critical element of the facility and we are very pleased with the performance of our suppliers, Apollo Wood Recovery and Sunset Fibre, in ensuring that only the cleanest, highest quality waste wood fiber is delivered to the site,” Carl notes.

Waste wood was delivered to CanFibre throughout the first half of 1999 in order to build up inventory in anticipation of the facility’s start up.

The California CanFibre plant—along with another being constructed near Buffalo, N.Y.—should become major consumers of waste wood. “We’ll be taking in and processing 400 to 500 tons per day, or about 40 truckloads, when the plant is at full production,” says vice president of marketing David Saltman of the Riverside plant. Acceptable types of wood being collected by Apollo Wood Recovery include, “wood from C&D work sites, old pallets, and some manufacturing outfall,” according to Saltman.