Wood Recycling Market Size

Wood, Paper & Paperboard Recycling Market Size

Wood, Paper & Paperboard Recycling Market size was over USD 21 billion in 2017 and will grow at a CAGR over 4% over the projected period.

Wood recycling is a process which involves the collection of waste wood generated by various end-users, and are recycled for further use in other applications such as wood panel manufacturing, animal bedding, energy generation, etc. The demand for wood recycling is increasing significantly due to the rising efforts to reduce tree cutting for making fresh wood. Despite many efforts to effective wood recycling, there is still a substantial volume that ends up in landfills every year. This process is environmentally unsustainable and expensive. The global demand for timber is increasing on a rapid scale, and this has led to increased wood production for various end-user applications. According to FAO of the U.S., the industrial roundwood production was over 1,750 million m³ in 2012, and increased to 1,874 million m³ in 2016, at a CAGR close to 2.0%. Due to this rising demand, the need for wood recycling is also predicted to grow at a moderate scale over the coming years. Additionally, wood recycling also reduces the impact of green house gases, which will substantially benefit the environment, which will in turn enhance the wood recycling market over the coming years.
 

In recent years, the demand for recycled wood has increased to various applications, including wood panel production, energy generation, animal and poultry bedding, and other applications such as equine surfaces, and landscaping products. Recycled wood offers low moisture content than fresh wood, which will create more durability. The recycled wood will also have more strength, compared to fresh wood, hence suitable for the manufacture of wood panels.
 

Paper recycling became a key trend in the global paper industry, majorly due to the scarcity of raw materials like wood pulp. Recycled paper has become the major source of raw material for many paper mills in both developed, and as well as developing countries. Paper recycling saves natural resources and reduces manufacturing expenses. Around 30% of the raw material demand for paper in countries including India and China are primarily met by recycled paper. In developing countries such as India, a lot of import of recycled paper is happening to meet the domestic demand, mainly due to lack of proper segregation and collection channels for waste paper. Moreover, the rising demand for paper-based product packaging for food & beverage will rise in the future years.
 

Growing urbanization, coupled with increasing middle-class population with a huge rise in literacy rates in developing economies like India, China, and Brazil will accelerate the rising demand for paper & paperboard products. Moreover, shifting consumer requirements towards packaging solutions which are convenient, along with increasing opposition to plastic packaging will significantly push the global paper & paperboard recycling market over the coming years. Moreover, growing concern towards the negative environmental effects of polymer packaging will create an additional demand for paper and paperboard packaging, which further increases the recycling rates over the coming years.
 

Lack of proper collection, segregation, and recycling facilities in countries such as India, China, Italy, Spain, and others is one of the major factor opposing the growth of wood, paper & paperboard recycling market from the past few years. Moreover, high costs involved in the recycling of used paper further restrain the global market size.