Cascading use of wood in Finland: with comparison to selected EU countries

Cascading use of woody biomass is getting increasing attention in current European discussions to ensure the sustainable and resource-efficient use of wood in future bioeconomy. So far however, there is no exact agreement on what is meant by "cascading". This report shortly summarizes several definitions on cascading use of biomass and discusses their differences. In addition, the wood flows in Finland on the year 2013 are presented, as well as examples of wood flows in selected other EU countries. Based on the comparison, the differences between the countries are discussed. Finland exports most of the products processed from woody biomass. Thus, the cascading cycles often take place outside Finland. Therefore the role of a wood producing country (e.g. Finland), supplying virgin fibre, differs significantly from the consumer countries (e.g. Germany and Holland) with more recycling, which creates challenges for creation of common cascading concept . Cascading should be considered from the perspective of the whole wood using cycle, recognising the regional differences in wood flows, when discussing about the cascading principles. Furthermore, the overall efficiency of recycling needs to be taken into account.