An Era in which Waste Wood Becomes New Walls Manufacture of Recycled Panels from Waste Wood (1990s, NICHIHA)

An Era in which Waste Wood Becomes New Walls Manufacture of Recycled Panels from Waste Wood (1990s, NICHIHA)
In Japan in the 1990s, construction and demolition sites generated large amounts of waste wood, much of which was incinerated or sent to landfills. As housing and public facilities built during Japan's high growth period entered a period of renewal one after another, the volume of waste wood increased rapidly and municipal final disposal sites became strained. The Environment Agency and the then Ministry of Construction were rushing to take countermeasures, and the construction waste problem became a major policy issue. At the same time, there was growing momentum for the sustainable use of forest resources and a rethinking of our dependence on imported timber, and expectations for building materials made from recycled materials were increasing.
Against this backdrop, Nichiha developed a technology to recycle waste wood into high-strength panels for construction. Wood recovered from demolition sites is crushed after foreign matter is removed, mixed with resin and other materials, and molded under high pressure to create building material panels with uniformity and stable performance. The panels could be used for a variety of applications, including exterior walls, flooring, and interior substrates, and in some cases were superior to ordinary wood panels in terms of strength and dimensional stability.
What is important about this recycled panel technology is that it simultaneously reduces waste and recycles resources. The fact that it was possible to produce building materials of stable quality while handling large volumes of waste wood in uneven condition was recognized as a breakthrough in the challenges of recycling technology at the time. In addition, by reducing the use of new wood, the company was able to reduce the burden on forest resources and contribute to a stable supply of building materials in the late 1990s, when the price of imported wood soared. These efforts were an example of advanced practice in the policy trend that later led to the enactment of the Construction Recycling Law.