EPF is proud to announce the publication of its Annual Report 2023-2024, the reference handbook for the European and global wood-based panels industry.

Printed copies of the EPF Annual Report 2023/2024 (hard copy) + USB-card (digital version) are now available for purchase at the price of 2450 EUR (excl. VAT). The full table of contents is available here. Please kindly find the order form here. EPF team wishes you excellent reading.

Thanks to external and internal contributions, the Annual Report contains 4 Special Topics:

This issue covers:

• Facts and figures on the WBP industries in the EPF member countries and relevant data in other parts of the world
• Maps showing the location of PB, MDF, OSB, fibreboard and plywood factories
• Country by country reports for Europe and the rest of the World
• User Industries with focus on construction, furniture and flooring materials
• Trade issues with relevant tariffs and duties for wood-based panels
• High-Level Advocacy including New European Bauhaus and Wood4Bauhaus Alliance, Circular Choices Coalition, Antwerp Declaration, Dialogue on Forest-based Bioeconomy
• Environmental Topics such as RED III, EUDR, CPR and more
• Organisation of the Federation including details of working groups and task forces

An additional booklet gathers PB, MDF, OSB, HB/SB and plywood producers affiliated to EPF, with their product specialisation and full contact details of the national EPF member associations, the associated EPF members and the institutes collaborating with EPF.

For further information, please contact EPF Administration and Communications Officer:

Mrs Isabelle Henin – info@europanels.org – +32 2 556 25 89

EPF and Unilin are partners in the Horizon 2020 European project CISUFLO (CIrcular SUstainable FlOor coverings) that has as main goal the transition to ​a sustainable circular flooring sector and is supported by innovation funds from the European Union. The consortium consists of 19 partners: industrial partners, research centres and associations and the project covers laminate, textile and vinyl floor coverings.

Product circularity is key for the preservation of our planet if we want to prevent depletion of our finite resources. Therefore, solutions need to be developed to make current flooring materials circular by design and/or by developing recycling technologies that recycle these products into new similar flooring products.

Nowadays, laminate flooring in particular and all MDF/HDF containing products in general, are often considered as hardly recyclable and such products commonly end in landfills or incineration at the end-of-life. This is an outcome that everyone wishes to change.

In order to close the recycling loop, a revolutionising technology has been developed by Unilin based on steam explosion. This allows the extraction of valuable wood fibres from MDF/HDF containing products (in particular laminate flooring). These fibres are then prepared for reuse and used as a replacement of virgin fibres in an HDF production process. This allows to recycle the main part of a laminate flooring, being the core HDF.

Unilin has spearheaded this initiative by establishing a pilot line at its MDF mill in Bazeilles, France. Since 2021 this line has been refined to the process needs of the recycling process. The actual status is that this line is producing over 1 ton of recycled fibres per hour, and these fibres are immediately reused in the production of new MDF/HDF products on a continuous basis. This rather small recycling unit demonstrates already the huge potential of the developed technology: not only the fact that fibres can be extracted and reused, with no significant impact on quality, but the recycling can be done at economically interesting conditions. In fact, the way the process performs, it even saves electrical/thermal energy compared to the energy required for producing wood fibres based on virgin wood.

This success refutes the sometimes perceived image of MDF/HDF as a non-recyclable product and instead demonstrates its circularity, for which European wood-based panels are known.

For more information:

Geert Coudenys (Unilin): geert.coudenys@unilin.com

Isabelle Henin (EPF): info@europanels.org

The 13^th European Wood-based Panel Symposium (EWBPS) is set to take place on 9-11 October 2024 in the Grand Elysée Hotel in Hamburg. This high-level event attracts participants from around the world (328 delegates from 28 countries attended the last edition in 2022) and aims to foster dialogues, joint efforts, innovation, and growth within the sector through a range of educational sessions, market updates, networking opportunities, technical presentations, and exhibitions. This upcoming edition promises to be an inspiring gathering for professionals involved in the WBP industry.

The Symposium’s comprehensive programme, which is officially released today, sheds light on multidimensional sessions and activities designed to address the latest trends, challenges, and advancements within the industry. Serving as a forum for attendees from Europe and beyond, engaging presentations, insightful panel discussions, and exchange opportunities with peers and industry stakeholders are to be expected.

The 2024 EWBPS will focus on 6 main thematic sessions critical to the WBP industry:

1. Market
2. Resources
3. Artificial Intelligence
4. Recycling
5. Resins
6. Developments

This major event will be opened by Professor Kasal (Fraunhofer WKI) and EPF Technical Director Kris Wijnendaele. EPF Managing Board Member Mr Philipp Sprockhoff will deliver a keynote speech on the overview of the situation of the WBP industry. A total of 17 technical presentations are scheduled during the subsequent technical sessions. Online registration is open via the Symposium website. Early bird registrations are possible by 2 August. Final deadline to register is set on 27 September 2024.

In case of questions, please kindly contact EWBPS@wki.fraunhofer.de

For further information, please contact EPF Secretariat at info@europanels.org

Organised in co-operation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research (WKI) and with the support of iVTH and Hywax, the 13th European Wood-based Panel Symposium will take place on 9-11 October 2024 at the Grand Elysée Hotel in Hamburg.

Registrations are already available via the conference website. This major networking event offers you the opportunity to showcase your expertise. EPF is delighted to invite you to submit an abstract for an oral presentation. 🔖 Deadline to submit papers is Friday 15 March 2024.

More information on the conditions and on the submission process are available via this link. 

Ahead of the European elections in 2024, the Construction 2050 Alliance, of which EPF is a member, has released its Call and commitment for the new European Union political term. As a first step, the Alliance is committed to establishing, with the support of European policymakers, an annual High-Level Summit for the Built environment, inviting all the relevant policymakers at the EU and national level to take stock of the evolution in the construction market. Read the full document