Old chair made of wood

Project: Strategies for Increased Circularity in the Wood Processing Industry (CirkuWood)

In Sweden, taking wood raw materials for granted is easy, but a shortage of certain raw materials already exists, and this shortage is expected to increase both nationally and globally. An alternative is to allow materials to have one or more new life cycles through reuse and remanufacturing. The project aims to enhance the wood processing industry's capability to handle circularity by contributing to the development of knowledge about reuse and remanufacturing.

Project information

Project manager at Linnaeus University
Jimmy Johansson
Other project members
Mirka Kans (Project Leader, Chalmers), Peter Almström, Dan Paulin (Chalmers), Malin Löfving (Jönköping University of Technology), Erik Sundin (Linköping University)
Participating organizations
Chalmers (Project Owner), Linnaeus University, Linköping University, Jönköping University of Technology
Financier
The Kamprad Family Foundation
Timetable
2023-2028
Subject
Forestry and wood technology (Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Faculty of Technology)

More about the project

Wood is a material everyone has a relationship with and uses daily; we furnish our homes, schools, and offices with wood. In a forest-rich country like Sweden, it's easy to take wood raw materials for granted, but already there is a shortage of certain raw materials, and this shortage is expected to increase both nationally and globally. At the same time, large amounts of wood products are discarded annually, which could very well have twice the lifespan.

A sustainable alternative is to allow these products to have one or more new life cycles through reuse and remanufacturing. Our overarching goal is to enhance the wood processing industry's ability to handle circularity by contributing to the development of knowledge about reuse and remanufacturing. For the customer, circular products should be the obvious first choice in the future, and the product should be equivalent and of high quality, whether it is new or remanufactured.

In this program, we map out the conditions for sustainable remanufacturing and develop technical and organizational solutions for efficient and profitable remanufacturing of wood products. Among other things, we develop production and design guidelines for efficient remanufacturing and a framework for sustainable industrialization. The economic, ecological, and social impacts of the results obtained are evaluated at the industry and societal levels, and new forms of collaboration are proposed. By forming an arena for circularity and remanufacturing, knowledge is created and disseminated at the national and regional levels.

The project is part of the research in the Forest Products and Forest Economics research fields and is included in the Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Green Sustainable Development.