Sector Focus: Panel Products | 43


SUMMARY


■HONEXT turns cellulose residue from the pulp and paper industry into construction-ready material


■HONEXT boards are Cradle to Cradle certified silver


■The first full scale plant will have an initial production of around 20,000m3


per year


■Former Accsys chief Paul Clegg is HONEXT’s CEO


CIRCULAR BY DESIGN


Cellulose and carbon – two highly important components for industry and society to work with and to understand, as globally, we continue to look for ways to mitigate climate change and to protect the planet. Geoff Rhodes reports


In 2021 I suggested that it had probably never been more important or urgent for us to understand, explore and exploit all types of timber resources and their derivatives and to look at multiple products, their properties, and benefits and for the wider timber trade to then communicate these realities clearly to the international marketplace. Two years later, this premise remains totally valid and the necessity for innovation in materials and the speed of change is a real driver, as we witness an explosion in global population and construction needs. Traditional raw material sources are essentially finite, and it is critical that new options emerge, which is why this updated report on the Barcelona-based company Honext Material SL producers of HONEXT is timely.


In November 2022, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt’s government hosted the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC -COP 27) and was addressing issues within the construction industry specifically to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change. It was reported that the built environment is a primary consumer of four of the five materials which account for 55% of the world’s industrial carbon emissions. Decarbonising the built environment is urgent to reach the 1.5O


C ambition of the


Paris agreement. Today it is generally acknowledged that the sector could reduce these emissions by embracing the principles of a circular economy, including material substitution.


Above: HONEXT boards were used to create the acoustic panels for this office interior PHOTO: GRUPO CONSTRUCIA


www.ttjonline.com | May/June 2023 | TTJ


From the separate ‘Circularity Gap Report’ subsequently presented in January 2023 came the data showing that the planet is now home to around 8 billion people – and in sheltering, feeding, transporting and clothing these billions, the global economy consumes a landmark 100 billion tonnes of materials per year.


By 2050 material extraction and use is expected to double relative to 2015 levels, threatening a total breakdown of Earth’s life support systems, which are already at a breaking point. Without material management strategies that keep us within planetary boundaries, the UN has warned of ‘total societal collapse’, driven by concurrent


climate change disasters, economic vulnerabilities, political instabilities, and ecosystem failures.


A crucial solution to address this challenge is a circular economy: more than just recycling, increases in secondary material use must be matched by a systemic approach to smart material management that enables doing more with less, using for longer and substituting with sustainably managed regenerative materials. By upgrading to a model that maximises the value that we extract from our precious materials, we can better ensure the well-being of present and future generations, while respecting the boundaries of our planet. ►


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85