For some time, high-quality products from Unilin Panels have only been made with reclaimed wood, with chipboard panels have been composed of 90% recycled materials. With its own new innovative recycling technology, Unilin Panels is taking things a step further to become the first in the world to recover MDF and HDF for new panels.
MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) and HDF (High Density Fibreboard) form the basis of Unilin panels and the company only uses reclaimed wood to produce them. This is wood saved from being burnt by including it in panel materials. Therefore it prevents new trees from being felled and CO2 from entering our atmosphere.
For many years, Unilin Panels have been on the lookout for a way to take things a step further and give its wood fibre panels a new life at the end of their lifecycle. Today, after a lot of research and development, it has become the first in the world to succeed in this endeavour. Thanks to new recycling technology it can now process wood fibre from discarded MDF and HDF into new panels on an industrial scale.
Recycling these panels was impossible for a long time because the glue used in the panels as a binder for the wood fibres could not be viably ‘filtered’ on an industrial scale. This is why the majority of MDF and HDF panels ended up in incinerators after approximately 14 to 20 years of use.
With the innovative new procedure, Unilin Panels can recycle wood fibres with glue residue and re-use them to make new materials, such as decorative coloured MDF panels or the HDF panels used as the basis for the laminate made by sister company Quick-Step. Thanks to this revolutionary development, Unilin Panels has doubled the lifecycle of wood fibres, giving new trees a chance to grow and in turn protecting nature by storing CO2.