How to Recycle Wood

Solid hardwood and engineered wood flooring including oak, maple, cherry, walnut, bamboo, and exotic species from residential and commercial installations. Hardwood flooring represents high-value wood waste with excellent reuse potential through refinishing, architectural salvage, or processing into mulch and biomass fuel when beyond repair.

Engineered wood panels including plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), particleboard, and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) from construction, furniture, and manufacturing applications. These composite wood products contain adhesives and binders that limit recycling options compared to solid lumber, though they can be processed into biomass fuel or used in specialized applications.

Wooden shipping pallets from freight, manufacturing, and logistics operations representing one of the largest sources of recoverable wood waste. With 2.6 billion pallets in circulation and 500-700 million produced annually, pallets offer excellent reuse and recycling potential through repair, remanufacturing, and wood recovery processes, though heat-treated and chemically-treated pallets require special handling.

Clean, untreated wood scraps, offcuts, and lumber remnants from construction, woodworking, and manufacturing operations. This material represents high-quality wood waste with excellent recycling potential for mulch production, biomass fuel, and direct reuse applications, provided it remains free of paints, stains, and chemical treatments.

Advanced engineered lumber including laminated veneer lumber (LVL), glue-laminated beams (glulam), I-joists, and other structural composite lumber from construction and manufacturing applications. These high-performance materials contain strong adhesives and multiple wood components, creating recycling challenges while offering potential for specialized reuse and biomass applications.

Fine wood particles, sawdust, wood shavings, and chips generated from sawmill operations, woodworking, furniture manufacturing, and tree care services. These materials are valuable for composting, animal bedding, biomass fuel, and mulch production, though contamination from treated lumber or finishes can limit recycling options significantly.

Bamboo flooring, furniture, cutting boards, textiles, and structural materials made from fast-growing bamboo grass species. While technically not wood, bamboo shares similar recycling challenges and opportunities, offering excellent sustainability when sourced responsibly but requiring specialized processing due to natural silica content and manufacturing adhesives that can limit recycling options.