UPM making wood from waste

Helsinki, Finland's UPM-Kymmene makes a habit of recycling, and the latest offering from the forest products company recycles leftover paper and plastic into a wood composite it calls UPM ProFi.

The composite, which started selling this year in Europe, is on display at Design Miami 2007 this weekend in the form of a giant pavilion constructed entirely of ProFi and designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, known for his paper tube structures and buildings.

The company manages over 4.9 million acres of forest in Canada, Finland, the U.K. and the U.S., and uses 2.9 million tonnes of recovered post consumer paper annually. Biofuels account for 60 percent of the fuels used at UPM's plants.

"We use renewable resources, forestry, then we turn it with renewable energy, basically from water and from burning the forest residues, into recyclable products. That's the big philosophy behind the business of UPM," Markku Koivisto, director of UPM's Corporate Venturing division, told the Cleantech Group.

Power plants at UPM's paper mills burn bark, forest residues, fibre residues and solids from deinking and effluent treatment facilities.

The company's Chemical pulp mills burn waste liquor that forms during the pulping process.

Even the boiler and fly ash from UPM's mills don't go to waste. Up to 80 percent of the ash generated by the company's power plants is recovered and used for landscaping, soil improvement and for the cement industry.

The company also set up a division to develop biomass to liquid diesel, and is aiming to become a significant producer of liquid biofuels for transportation (see Finnish forestry products giant to start producing bio fuel).

The new ProFi composite came out of UPM's Corporate Venturing unit, which works to come up with new businesses by keeping an eye on processes and new technologies at the company.

"We started some three years ago to look into the topic, because basically it's clean paper and plastic, and it's a shame to throw it away or to incinerate or burn it," said Koivisto.

Take a look at the ProFi pavilion >>

Most of the raw material for ProFI comes from leftovers at the production of the company's UPM Raflatac self-adhesive labels business. The company said it also adds some extra plastic to improve the product's properties.

Wood-plastic composites are commonly made with sawdust or wood flour.

The ProFi is being manufactured in small volumes right now and sold for outdoor use in patios, playgrounds, garden buildings and boardwalks, but Koivisto said it can used for much more, as is apparent from the pavilion.

"It's more your imagination that limits you where to use it," he said.

"We are going first after big surfaces, like decks, facades, fencing, stuff like that. And then all the time doing engineering work on if it would be possible to use it also in a structural way."

Koivisto said new ProFi products are expected to be introduced next year.

The density of UPM's composite is higher than wood, and the company uses a hollow profile in the decking product. It sells for 6 to 8 euros per linear meter, which Koivisto said is equivalent to other composite products on the market.

"In Central Europe, we compete mainly against the tropical hardwoods," said Koivisto.

The main advantage to using ProFi over wood is that it doesn't need to be treated. It's already weatherproof as it is.

Although the company had 10 billion euros in overall sales in 2006, Koivisto said the industry is struggling with overcapacity, and that looking into new business possibilities, with the resources on hand, made sense to management.

The company's paper business accounts for 70 percent of its sales, or 7.4 billion euros. The labels and wrappings business accounts for 1.3 billion euros, and wood products for 1.3 billion euros.

"For UPM ProFi, we expect to get, within the next few years, let's say within the next five years, a 100 million euro business," said Koivisto.

If you can't catch a flight to Miami this weekend, you can check out the ProFi pavilion in New York next year. It'll be set up in the Big Apple sometime in 2008.

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