Still Some Knocks on Wood

Regional market differences continue to make it difficult to draw any definite conclusions about the waste wood recycling industry. For an operation to be successful, it needs to be very tailored to the specific markets and conditions where the business is located.

"This industry isn’t necessarily a cookie-cutter business opportunity across the U.S.," says Robert Brickner, a consultant for Gershmann, Brickner and Bratton, Inc., Fairfax, Va. "Each area has its own dynamics. All of the things have to be in line to make the same thing happen in Maryland that’s in Wisconsin."

Jim Cullom, owner of Flo-Cait Environmental Systems, Grand Rapids, Mich., agrees. "You have to, whenever you are recycling, take the problem and work it backwards," he says. "Find something you think should be done and find your outlets"

Each market does have its own dynamics and influences. A number of contributing factors affect the status of any given C&D wood debris recycler, such as location, type of material being recycled, availability of the materials and demand for the finished end product. All of these factors contribute to the success and profitability of wood recycling.

As with much of the recycling industry, landfill tipping fees can have a major impact on the success of a wood recycling operation. When tipping fees are high, there is more incentive to recycle to save money. When landfill tipping fees are low, there is a higher tendency to landfill the material because it is the most cost-effective method of disposal, even if it is not the most environmentally friendly.

The variation in the dynamics of recycling markets can be seen in the difference among tipping fees across the nation. While $90 per ton fees in Portland, Ore., strongly encourage recycling, tipping fees of closer to $50 per ton near Albany, N.Y., make it less automatic.

When landfills begin to reach full capacity, wood recyclers see it as a positive for their business. A lack of landfill space and resulting tipping fee increases contribute to raised C&D wood debris recycling rates. "The harder it is to truck [materials], the better it is for us," says Bill Biers, president of WM Biers Inc., Albany, N.Y.

Another Albany area wood waste recycler, Ben Gordon, president, of Good Riddance Inc., Colonie, N.Y., estimates that only about 1% of C&D wood waste is recycled in the area. Tipping fees are around $50 to $65 per ton, and even though it is less expensive to recycle the materials instead of landfilling them, the incentive just doesn’t seem to be there.

To compensate for what can be less than ideal tipping fees, some wood waste recycling businesses are trying to create their own business opportunities. One way WM Biers Inc. is trying to diversify its services is in the business of colored wood chips.

This spring planting season was the first time Biers produced colored wood chip mulch, and the venture has been received positively. To make the mulch, green waste is ground up and processed. Once the wood is processed into small enough pieces, it is run through a dye machine and ground again. The mulch can be used for landscaping, on playgrounds or as animal bedding.

But, even as the popularity of colored wood chip mulch continues to grow, Michael Slattery, regional sales manager of Fecon, Cincinnati, warns that the mulch markets can become saturated quickly. "Mulch coloring is gaining momentum," he says. "In the East Coast it has been becoming very popular in the past two to three years."

Slattery says he anticipates the popularity of colored wood waste mulch to grow and spread further west. Currently, it is very popular in Florida. But, producers must be cautious of the materials they are using to produce the mulch. A much higher quality finished product results when a higher grade of feed, for example, wood from new construction projects, is used because it is not tainted with paint or nails. Mulch made from new construction projects, and then colored either red, black or gold, produces a higher quality finished product.

"We anticipate it becoming a trend to increase profit margins," Slattery says. For a cost of about $3 per cubic yard, wood chip mulch can be colored and marketed in a mulch category that brings prices of about $28 per cubic yard, Slattery says.

But even as companies become more diversified in the materials they process, a lack of materials can be the real challenge at times. "It seems like there is a lot more out there," Biers says. "For this being the capitol [of New York], there isn’t enough volume of wood to keep things going. We are one of the only wood recyclers within a 100 mile radius, and sometimes the volume still isn’t here."

The figurative light at the end of the tunnel for wood waste streams occurs only when landfills reach capacity rates and begin to close, which then raises landfill tipping fees.

Even with the lack of materials at times, Biers says he has seen a steady increase in C&D wood debris being recycled, but "it seems like very little compared to the population here. We’ve only been here since 1992 and every year it grows."

In Portland, Ore., a mandate enacted in January 1996 requiring the recycling of C&D debris has resulted in high tipping fees and high C&D recycling rates. Construction projects totaling more than $50,000 are required to separate and recycle land clearing debris, rubble—including concrete, asphalt and wood—and other materials.

Dan Walsh, vice president of Northwest Wood & Fiber Recovery, Portland, says the recycling rate for C&D debris is quite high in the Portland area. "We handle about 4,000 tons a month," he says. Other companies in the area also handle large amounts of wood products as well.

The ability to acquire long term contracts has made Northwest Wood & Fiber Recovery feel confident about its ability to obtain feed stock. Northwest accepts materials mainly from industrial users, such as pallets, crates and items from new construction projects, that can be defined as clean urban wood

Obtaining long-term contracts can help a business become more stable, as well as less reliant on other companies to complete certain steps of processing. This independence and competitiveness can help wood recycling companies become more self-contained, says Biers. "To bring in the volume of wood we need we are working on a new permit and new building," he says. "That’s the future of this business—to grow and stay competitive—and to be a self-contained business."

But even so, C&D wood waste recycling just doesn’t seem to be too popular in the Albany, N.Y., area, although the recycling of green waste is quite popular in the area, Gordon says. Some demolition contractors are recycling, "but they’re not recycling the wood themselves, but sending it elsewhere."

Gordon says his company is very interested in recycling as much as possible, while some publicly owned waste companies are trying to catch up. "The public-owned waste companies are way behind the curve," he says. "I don’t think they are capable of doing it right. Institutions are so pre-disposed to bury and burn that they may never figure out how to [recycle] profitably."

The constant fluctuation of supply and demand for processed wood waste end products can make the industry somewhat unstable and unpredictable, says Brickner.

Once companies have acquired materials to process, the next challenge becomes finding outlets to purchase them after they are processed. After some power plants closed in the Albany area, companies were left with excess material and nowhere to send it. "The one thing that has made it harder for myself, but also for the wood recyclers, is getting rid of the products," notes Biers.

He says that there is a surplus of wood, with an abundance of wood chip available, which can cause problems for wood recyclers. "There is definitely a surplus of wood. So much wood chip is readily available that having the power plants as outlets definitely helped business."

While mulch is one increasingly popular outlet for wood debris, hog fuel is also one of the top uses for wood waste debris, says Cullom. Hog fuel is used by co-generation plants.

Brickner says the limited number of markets for processed wood products may drive some companies out of business because the market can only handle so much material before it becomes saturated.

"I’d say that people are still having trouble with the materials," he says. "When there’s a new material the glut will drive markets down and help potentially put the marginal people out of business. The supply and demand of product when there is an overabundance of materials drives the value down. What the industry is trying to do is find that niche of value added finished product that might be wood based that they sell their wood products into."

The CanFibre Group Ltd. seems to have found such a niche. The company has begun accepting C&D wood waste as feedstock at its new medium-density fiberboard plant in Riverside, Calif. The plant opened in early August and should be in full production by December, says David Saltman, vice president of marketing for the Riverside plant.

"We are in the process of slowly ramping up to full production," he says. "It seems to be going smoothly. We are already shipping shop grade board."

The company is selling shop grade board "well above market price," Saltman says. "There seems to be a lot of interest in what we are doing."

A mix of old pallets, and C&D waste is being used as feedstock at the plant. Furniture manufactures in the area are also contributing feed. "We are making very high quality fiber out of that recovered stream."

CanFibre is constructing a similar plant near Buffalo, N.Y., and another in Amsterdam, Holland.

A component of successful wood recycling is also having the appropriate equipment for the job, says Biers. A tub grinder manufactured by W.H.O. Manufacturing Co., Lamar, Colo., has helped WM Biers reduce processing costs and increase profits. "They tailor-make grinders for our needs," Biers says. "It helps keep our prices per ton down."

Slattery says there are a number of pieces of equipment that can help produce cleaner products more easily. "Satellite screens are effective when being placed at the ends of discharge conveyors to screen directly from conveyors or other screens," he says. "They don’t require a feed hopper to feed the screen, so capitol investment is lower."

Grinding equipment and horizontal grinders without screens to size the materials are slightly more forgiving, Slattery says, to contaminants. To create a marketable mulch, processors may want to add a horizontal screen in back of the grinder to size the materials.

Depending on the area where the equipment is located, processors may want to choose a horizontal grinder over a tub grinder in more densely populated areas. "Horizontal grinders are nice and really effective in the recycling of construction and demolition materials because they are safer to operate in confined areas," Slattery says. "They tend to contain material and have safe infeed and contained outfeed in discharge area. Tub grinders have tendency to throw material out the top."

Not only is having the appropriate equipment for the job necessary for successful processing, but being able to process materials that may contain harmful substances can present another challenge for recyclers.

According to proposed U.S. EPA regulations, any C&D wood waste debris containing lead-based paint can not be recycled unless the lead-based paint is removed. Lead-based paint has been found to be harmful to humans, especially small children. Inspired by Article 10 from the 1992 Community Development Act, the proposal would strictly limit the recycling of C&D debris that contains lead-based paint in landfills.

A layer of lead-based paint may be hidden beneath several other coats of paint, and removing that potential hazard can be costly and impractical for some processors. "Painted wood generically is an issue that a lot of recyclers have to be concerned about," Brickner says. "Pieces that were never painted are a lot more usable."

The author is the assistant editor of C&D Recycler.