The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Around 40% of Swiss wood is burned

40 percent of Swiss wood ends up directly in the stove
Around 40% of Swiss wood is used directly for energy – in other words, it is burned. Researchers agree that this is far from ideal. Keystone-SDA

Wood is hardly ever recycled in Switzerland. According to a study by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), the recycling rate for wood is just under 8% - while it stands at 70% for paper.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Around 40% of the five to seven million cubic metres of wood harvested in Switzerland each year is burned directly, according to the study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology that looks at material flows of wood in Switzerland.

This situation is not ideal, especially as wood is one of the most important raw materials on the road to a climate-neutral future, says Empa.

More
man in trees

More

Switzerland’s forests of the future

This content was published on Which trees will be able to guarantee the functions of the forest 100 years from now? Switzerland is looking for answers by planting exotic species.

Read more: Switzerland’s forests of the future

“This renewable natural resource binds CO2 from the atmosphere as it grows. Both as a material and as an energy source, wood and its numerous components offer alternatives to fossil fuels and materials,” it said.

For wood to fulfill its function as a long-term CO2 sink, it should remain in the technosphere as a material for as long as possible, say the researchers.

More

The forest and the use of wood play an important role in achieving the net-zero targets, they stated.

As late as possible in the furnace

The researchers advocate so-called cascading use of wood. In this approach, a harvested tree would first be processed into the largest possible high-quality product – such as beams and boards for construction. This wood should then be (re-)used in this function for as long as possible. Only when reuse is no longer feasible would the wood be broken down into the next material stage, for example as smaller boards, wood chips or wood-based materials.

It should only go into the furnace when it can no longer be used as a material, Empa writes.

The wood research was carried out in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

F/A-18 take-offs and landings at Bern-Belp Airport

More

F/A-18s take off and land at Bern Airport

This content was published on The Swiss Armed Forces are training their fighter jets in Bern to fly from a civilian base. The exercise at Bern Airport will last until Wednesday.

Read more: F/A-18s take off and land at Bern Airport
cern

More

Plans materialise for new particle accelerator in Geneva

This content was published on Preparations for a huge new particle accelerator in Geneva have reached a milestone. After several years of work, a feasibility study for the project has now been finalised.

Read more: Plans materialise for new particle accelerator in Geneva
More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland

More

More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland

This content was published on The value of frozen Russian assets in Switzerland currently stands at CHF7.4 billion ($8.4 billion), the Swiss government announced on Tuesday.

Read more: More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland
Increase in business start-ups in the 1st quarter

More

Increase in Swiss business start-ups in Q1

This content was published on The number of business start-ups in Switzerland accelerated in the first three months of the year, with entrepreneurs being particularly dynamic in Central Switzerland, Basel and Geneva.

Read more: Increase in Swiss business start-ups in Q1

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR