Ecology
28 Nov 2025
We make no compromises when it comes to quality. This includes high-quality wood recycling of waste wood – so that the raw material is used in the best possible way, with minimal impact on nature and the environment. That is why wood at Pfleiderer is recycled several times and sourced from responsible sources.
ReSource from Pfleiderer conserves valuable resources
In 2024, we were able to measurably substantiate this claim: 53.5 percent of the wood used in our plants comes from post-consumer recycled wood, supplemented by 25 percent sawmill waste wood and 21 percent thinning and damaged wood from predominantly domestic forests. In this way, we extend the life of wood, strengthen CO₂ storage capacity, and ensure climate-friendly production.
With ReSource, we demonstrate how waste wood remains in the cycle as a valuable secondary raw material: resources are conserved, CO₂ is bound, and the circular economy is put into practice.
At Pfleiderer, ReSource stands for state-of-the-art recycling technology, sustainable procurement, and a clear commitment: quality and responsibility in every chip.
... OF WASTE WOOD IS GENERATED IN GERMANY EACH YEAR, DEPENDING ON THE ECONOMIC SITUATION. MORE THAN HALF OF THIS AMOUNT IS OF HIGH QUALITY AND CAN BE PROCESSED INTO A VALUABLE SECONDARY RAW MATERIAL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF NEW WOOD-BASED MATERIALS.
The German Waste Wood Ordinance, the strictest of its kind in Europe, ensures that elements and compounds that are hazardous to health are removed from the cycle as far as possible. Accordingly, only certain categories of waste wood are approved for recycling:
Waste wood category A I:
| Natural or mechanically processed waste wood, e.g., pallets, solid wood furniture.
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| Waste wood category A II: | Glued, coated, and varnished waste wood without halogenated organic compounds in the coating and without wood preservatives, e.g., furniture made of chipboard, such as kitchens and wardrobes.
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| Waste wood category A III: | Waste wood without wood preservatives with organic halogen compounds in the coating is only permitted after prior cleaning.
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| Waste wood category A IV: | Waste wood treated with wood preservatives, such as railroad ties, utility poles, hop poles, vine stakes, and other waste wood.
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In our chipboard plants for waste wood recycling in Gütersloh, Leutkirch, and Neumarkt, we exclusively use waste wood from categories A I and A II—i.e., clean, uncontaminated material that is ideally suited for high-quality wood-based materials. Categories A III and A IV are only used for thermal recycling.
Our chipboards are regularly tested in our central laboratory in Arnsberg. Together with our suppliers, we thus ensure that product quality standards are fully complied with in waste wood recycling.
We also invest in analysis, sorting, and research beyond the legal requirements, thereby contributing to a steady increase in the recycling rate. The result: over 53 percent recycled wood content in the total wood mix in 2024. This is an important step toward maximizing the use of wood as a raw material.
For decades, we have been working with our partners in waste wood recycling and machine development to keep wood in circulation for as long as possible – in line with the cradle-to-cradle-to-principle . In our individually configured cleaning and sorting plants, every detail is designed for maximum efficiency.
The following video provides a compact overview of this process and shows how used wood products are turned into high-quality recyclable material:
We take recycled wood chips from waste wood that have been processed by our partners and contain only a minimal amount of impurities. In addition, we take measures in our own production preparation to achieve optimum quality and increase the degree of utilization.
At the same time, we are continuously optimizing our production preparation to increase quality and utilization. Thanks to this innovative strength, we now achieve a technical wood yield of up to 92 percent, depending on the plant: a top value in the industry.
This efficiency pays off twice: it conserves resources and reduces our ecological footprint. In combination with our biomass cogeneration plant, which supplies over 85 percent of the energy required at our sites, this creates a virtually closed cycle from waste wood collection to the finished wood-based material.
At Pfleiderer, recycling is precision work. In our ReSource plants, every piece of waste wood is processed in a six-step process: from pre-sorting to the knife ring chipper.
Our internal recycling process begins with the pre-cleaning of the delivered wood chips and the fractionation from fine to coarse. The resulting batches then pass through several stations until only clean, uncontaminated material remains.
Discover the individual cleaning stations here:
Pfleiderer ReSource works very precisely in the pre-sorting stage. Material fractions are formed: Here, waste wood is separated with high precision into medium, small, and very fine particles. Each fraction is cleaned individually and transferred to production.
At Pfleiderer, even very small fine particles are recycled, whereas competitors simply incinerate them.
In the first phase of coarse wood chip processing, ferrous metals are separated using magnets. This keeps the wood free of contaminants that could impair quality or damage machinery.
Magnetic cleaning is followed by non-ferrous metal separation. Here, non-ferrous metals such as aluminum or copper are separated from the wood stream using the eddy current process.
Non-metallic heavy materials are identified and ejected using an X-ray sorting process. The ejected material is also examined for usable wood parts in a water bath so that it can be returned to the recycling stream.
Plastics, MDF, and remaining metal are identified and ejected using an AI-supported optical process based on infrared technology. The rejects are run through the process again to optimize the proportion of recyclable material.
The waste wood, which has been freed of impurities and contaminants, is finally processed into high-quality chips in the knife ring chipper.
Pfleiderer is one of the pioneers of wood recycling in Europe. Today, our chipboard already consists of over 60 percent recycled wood on average. This figure underlines our leading role in the industry.
In 2024, the proportion of post-consumer recycled wood in the wood mix was 53.5 percent, supplemented by 25 percent sawmill residues and 21 percent thinning and damaged wood from predominantly domestic forests. This means that we have already achieved – and exceeded – our original target for 2025 ahead of schedule.
You can find out more about our sustainability goals and initiatives on the "Naturally sustainable" page.
Our goal remains clear: wood should be used as a material for as long as possible before being thermally recycled. In this way, we conserve raw materials, reduce emissions, and extend the natural CO₂ storage capacity of the material: a win for the environment, the economy, and society alike.
With ReSource, we have developed an innovative recycling process that sets new standards. The combination of state-of-the-art sorting technology, AI-supported analysis, and in-house research enables particularly reliable separation of foreign materials and processing of unprecedented quality.
The result: chipboard that is more flexible, sustainable, and climate-friendly than ever before – and for which Pfleiderer was awarded the German Sustainability Award in 2024.
You can find all the details on our recycling rates, ESG targets, and climate strategies in the current Sustainability Report 2024 (PDF).
