In addition to sawn timber and planed goods, Pfeifer produces high-quality wood-based materials such as solid wood panels, glued laminated timber, formwork beams, formwork panels and packaging wood. All components of the round timber are used to return as much material as possible to the economic cycle. Pfeifer also uses the wood chips, sawdust and shavings produced during the manufacturing process to make products or generate energy. One example of this resource efficiency is the robust EUROBLOCK compressed chip blocks for the pallet industry, which continue to store the bound CO₂. Sawdust is also used to produce wood pellets and wood briquettes. When burned, these fuels release only as much carbon dioxide as the trees previously stored during their growth. In addition, wood residues such as bark are converted into CO2-neutral energy in Pfeifer's modern biomass power plants. Part of the heat generated is used to dry the wood, while the rest is used to generate electricity and fed into the public grid.
Closed value chain at Pfeifer
100% wood. 100% responsibility
From logs to recycled products: at Pfeifer, no part of this valuable raw material goes to waste. Cascade utilisation, circular economy and state-of-the-art processing technology create a closed value chain that combines resource efficiency, climate protection and innovative strength. With its new waste wood recycling plant in Uelzen, Pfeifer is setting another milestone on the road to a sustainable, bio-based future.
Wood plays a central role on the path to a sustainable, bio-based future. As a renewable raw material, it offers an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil-based materials. In view of limited resources, it is the common goal of the forestry and timber industry, as well as politicians striving to achieve climate protection targets, to use wood from sustainable forestry efficiently and keep it in the material cycle for as long as possible.
So-called cascade use (= as many stages of use as possible, from wood to energy use at the end of the product life cycle) increases resource efficiency and reduces the need for climate-damaging raw materials. It is even more sustainable to use wood circularly, i.e. within a circular economy. The aim of the circular economy is to close the material cycle of wood as far as possible by making wood that has been used once available to the economy again as a so-called secondary raw material. Waste and by-products from wood processing and manufacturing are used effectively by becoming a source of new resources.
Closed value chain at Pfeifer
For decades, Pfeifer has pursued a 100% value creation strategy – i.e. no part of the round timber remains unused in the company. The refinement process begins in the sawmill with the debarking of the round timber and its further processing into sawn timber using state-of-the-art scanner and sawing technology.
New milestone: waste wood recycling in Uelzen
With the waste wood recycling plant in Uelzen, which will go into operation in 2024, Pfeifer is taking another important step towards resource conservation and a circular economy. Here, Pfeifer processes regionally sourced recycled wood from wooden pallets, packaging and construction timber that can no longer be reused to produce pressboard pallet blocks for the pallet industry. This returns valuable secondary raw materials to the economic cycle and further optimises the use of raw materials.
Conclusion: Circular economy as a sustainable strategy
Through the consistent implementation of a closed value chain, Pfeifer handles wood, a renewable but limited raw material, in a responsible manner. From initial processing with optimised raw material yield to the refinement of sawmill by-products and the recycling of waste wood, every element contributes to establishing a resource-saving economy.