Milestone: world’s largest industrial MDF recycling installation at our Bazeilles site
09/10/2024
Recycling MDF and HDF? That was always something for the distant future but a couple of years ago Unilin has become the first player to make it a reality. Our 2021 breakthrough technology was just the beginning – now we're scaling it up! Thanks to a €20 million investment, we are putting our Bazeilles production site on the map as the home of the world’s first industrial installation for the recycling of MDF. From September 2025, the facility will recycle up to 70,000 tonnes of wood fibres per year. Talk about a milestone!
Revolutionary technology
For the longest time it was impossible to recycle the millions of MDF and HDF panels that were being manufactured worldwide. Thanks to a breakthrough engineered by our President Veronique Hoflack these panels no longer have to be incinerated or landfilled but are given a new life as raw material for the production of panels. In 2021 the pilot project at our site in Bazeilles, France, kickstarted our efforts to recycle MDF and HDF on an industrial scale. The result? The CO² in the wood is stored for longer ánd we consume less energy to manufacture MDF and HDF.
With the efficiency of our recycling technology fully proven, the next step consists of upscaling to a brand-new recycling installation that will make recycled fibres an integral part of our MDF and HDF panels. This €20 million investment proves that MDF and HDF are fully recyclable, paving the way for a circular economy.
A breakthrough for the industry as a whole
Recycling is the future and not just for us. That is why we will also make our innovative and patented recycling technology available to other manufacturers in the industry through licences. “We did the same when we invented the click system in the nineties”, Unilin CEO Wim Messiaen remarks. “We believe that our recycling technology will drive our industry forward, benefiting everyone in the process.”
The next step? Collect MDF waste in sufficient quantities to feed the installation. “For this we have already set up several take-back programmes with our customers and partners. We also hope to find an ally in the government willing to recognise the recyclability of this material in order to motivate the general public to sort MDF. This way we hope to avoid the unnecessary incineration of valuable waste streams”, Veronique Hoflack, President of Unilin Panels, concludes.
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This project was funded by the French State as part of France 2030 operated by ADEME, with the financial support of La Région Grand Est.
