Around 40% of Swiss wood is burned

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. "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 ...