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= Engineered Wood = Engineered wood is the term given to material derived from smaller pieces of wood that are bound together through a variety of glues, resins, and other chemicals to make a wood-like product. Examples of engineered wood include oriented strand-board, particleboard, glued-laminated timber, laminated lumber, wood I-joists, and finger-jointed studs.

Markets for wood waste include feedstock for engineered woods, landscape mulch, soil conditioner, animal bedding, compost additive, sewage sludge bulking medium, and boiler fuel. All these end uses have similar processing requirements in that the wood waste has to be separated from other wastes, cleaned by removing contaminants and fasteners, and, in some cases, processed through grinding or chipping. Another desirable option for wood waste management would be to reuse the structural or architectural elements, which include casings, banisters, and molding. Large timbers from older or unique structures can be salvaged and reused as structural elements in new buildings. If lumber is reused as a structural element, it must be re-certified by a lumber grading inspector.

Wood waste is the second largest component of construction and demolition (C&D) debris after concrete. It contributes 20 to 30 percent of the building-related C&D total. Overall, wood accounts for around 10 percent of material being deposited in landfills annually. This statistic is a concern to policy makers, who observe that the recycling rate for C&D derived wood is considerably lower than for other C&D materials such as concrete and structural steel.

Around 70.6 million tons of urban wood waste were generated in the U.S. in 2010, including 48 percent from municipal solid waste and 52 percent from construction and demolition (C&D). Several years ago, the Construction Materials Recycling Association estimated that a further 29 million tons of waste were available for recovery after allowing for current levels of recovery, combustion, and unusable material.

For C&D wood waste in particular, the total annual generation is estimated at 36.4 million tons, with 29.7 million tons derived from demolition activities and 6.7 million tons from construction. According to a U.K. study, about 10 to 15 percent of the wood used in new construction ends up in recycling or waste streams. After current recovery efforts or wood unavailable for recycling due to chemical treatments or other issues, there remains an untapped resource of 17.3 million tons of urban waste wood available for recycling on an annual basis.