HOW TO BUILD INDUSTRIALLY SCALABLE VALUE CREATION FROM TIMBER CONSTRUCTION BY-PRODUCTS IN NEW ZEALAND

Global economies seek solutions for a circular economy and climate change mitigation. Forest biomass and sawn timber processing by-products offer several value-added components to replace unrenewable carbon-intensive materials. Generally, sawn goods utilize only approximately half of the harvested timber volume. When aiming for circular and zero waste construction, it is not enough to use local wood sources for timber construction unless all the wood streams- are fully utilized. Projects worldwide are developing biomass-based biorefineries, but the upscaling of these technologies require cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary partnerships. In this paper, we propose a plan for a holistic approach to analyse and visualise value-creation possibilities in the New Zealand (NZ) context, targeting locally sourced, underevaluated and undervalued wood species that can be used in construction and finishing. The focus is on finding solutions that are economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable. Additionally, with benchmarking to Finland, we present examples of industrial value-chains and by-products, to provide a baseline understanding on the scale-up potential with techno-economic feasibility.