Canadian company wins award for 100% recycled MDF

MDF is widely used in the construction of furniture, cabinets, moldings and architectural millwork. With the exception of CanFibre’s AllGreen products, all MDF manufactured in North America is made from virgin wood fibre and sawmill wood waste.

CanFibre’s factory in Riverside, California has won the Sequoia award, sponsored by the Association of Woodworking and Furniture Suppliers (AWFS). Members of the jury included representatives from the EPA, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the Department of Sanitation.

In addition to being made from recycled wood waste- thus assisting the county where the Riverside plant is located to meet its waste reduction target – AllGreen MDF is free from urea formaldehyde resin. The EPA has declared the resin to be a significant factor in poor indoor air quality.

Recycled materials and the absence of urea formaldehyde resin were but two reasons that led the Sequoia Award jury to choose CanFibre. The company has also installed a thermo-catalytic oxidiser that processes the Riverside plant’s air emissions, and, according to the company, use of the oxidiser means that the air exiting the factory is cleaner than the ambient air in the surrounding area.

All water used in plant operations is recovered and recycled and a patented manufacturing process has speeded up production, thus reducing energy use. All wood waste from plant operations, including sander dust, is captured and recycled.

The Riverside factory produced its first MDF products in May and a second factory is under construction in Lackawanna, New York. CanFibre announced this month that its parent company, Kafus, has reached an agreement to construct the first European CanFibre plant in the Port of Amsterdam. The CanFibre Amsterdam facility has been designed to produce 230,000m³ of AllGreen MDF from 100% post-consumer waste wood annually. Construction will begin on the Amsterdam site late this year.