Focus on MDF Part 1: Europe & North America | 23
fibreboards, costing in the region of €65m. The geostrategic location of the plant was one of the key factors for the comprehensive investments. The Losheim am See plant, which primarily serves the door industry, benefits from a good supply of raw materials, as it co-operates with regional and sustainable forestry operations and maintains long-term relationships with its suppliers. The aim is to start production in late 2025. Meanwhile, Italy continues to be caught up in the challenges caused by the somewhat long-term decline in furniture production locally, coupled with the construction sector’s reduction in activity. Bipan (Luigi Frati) and Plaxil (Fantoni) remain the two long-term domestic MDF brands and producers. For some years, Fantoni has been
developing a process to produce MDF utilising at least 50% post-consumer waste raw material and highlights ‘RECY’, its new wood cleaning plant for the production of recycled MDF panels. With ‘RECY’, the innovative wood recycling and cleaning plant, integrated into the Plaxil 8 production line, the Osoppo-based company can continue its pathway towards maximum levels of production sustainability. The new system – which can fill the middle layer of the MDF panel with 50%
recycled material – focuses once again on high technology and integrated automation to meet the challenges of Industry 4.0 with great verve.
The sophisticated technology used means the surface quality of the panel, in virgin wood fibre, remains unaltered, guaranteeing the same performance as traditional MDF. An important milestone for the Group which, from a circular economy viewpoint, can concretely demonstrate the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability: the traditional production of chipboard panels obtained from 100% recycled wood is now joined by the production of MDF with at least 50% recycled material. In fact, every year, the Friuli-based group
recycles 420,000 tons of post-consumer wood with which it makes 360,000 tons of chipboard.
Design trends from Italy are always worth noting and it is reported from there recently that coloured MDF is gaining in popularity with black MDF currently being the most popular colour of choice. This is a small niche market, but with significant added value. Looking ahead, the trend in Italy and indeed across Europe is towards utilising increasing percentages of recycled wood raw materials. It’s still in the early stages, but this is expected to grow and grow. Several of the big process equipment manufacturers are
either developing or exploring MDF recycling solutions. Whilst these developments can be promoted as aiding the ‘circular economy’ the drive is also accelerating due to the growing pressures on wood fibre availability used for biomass green energy projects and the development of aviation fuels from green resources. The issue of recycling MDF at the end of its use remains an important topic of research in Scandinavia and elsewhere, and the wood sector will benefit commercially and technically from new recycling methodology. Several different technologies have been developed, including that by MDF Recovery Ltd in the UK, which last year signed an agreement with leading recycling technology supplier PAL. Also, the European Panel Federation (EPF) feels the most exciting issue for MDF is the use of recycled material in the product. In parallel to this, a major EU-funded investment programme – EcoReFibre – which is specifically looking at how to replace up to 25% of MDF fibre with recycled material in the future. EPF is a participant in this four-year project (which has completed the first 18 months) and is excited about its prospects. Looking more broadly, the Ukraine / Russia conflict, inflation and now tariffs have dominated the last 12 – 24 months.
www.wbpionline.com | June/July 2025 | WBPI
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