The transformation from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy will lead to an increased use of wood with new market players. Besides long-term carbon sequestration (climate protection), resource efficiency is one of the goals in the wood sector. For the development of a circular wood-based bioeconomy, the development of new reuse and recycling processes within a cascade utilization is essential.

Up to now, recovered wood (wood that has been in use before) is mainly used for energy generation, so that the full C-binding potential as well as the substitution potential compared to fossil raw materials and primary wood have not been exploited. However, stakeholders currently have little incentive to initiate high-quality material recycling due to existing investments and general reservations towards recovered wood.

Therefore, the aim of the joint project is the development of an innovation concept for the circular-optimized material use of recovered wood (research phase) in an open innovation approach and its validation in “real life” (implementation phase) in Bavaria. These results are used to identify optimization potentials and measures for an implementation of the concept in practice. At the same time, existing challenges and opportunities are to be identified and innovation paths are to be developed that are technically and economically feasible as well as ecologically and socially suitable. Based on a circular cascading model, three innovation paths will be pursued:

• Dimension-preserving solid wood utilization (sorting and preparation of recovered wood for the development of products)
• Development and optimization of chemical pulping processes for recovered wood as a raw material in bio-refineries
• Recovered wood as a substrate for mycelium-based products