Chemically transforming waste wood into high-performance building material

摘要

Transforming scrap wood into lightweight and strong building materials could help divert staggering amounts of waste from landfills, says University of British Columbia chemical engineer Orlando Rojas. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, recycled municipal waste wood accounted for 3.1 million tons in 2018, representing just 17 per cent of the that country's total wood waste. "Canada has almost 10 per cent of the world's forests. We should be at the forefront of achieving circularity in wood materials," says Rojas. "The goal of our research is a marriage of wood recycling and the creation of a long-lived building material."