In Estonia, there is a lot of wood waste, which is either completely pure wood or only slightly processed. The regulation of the Minister of the Environment created the conditions under which district heating stations can use this waste more easily in the future.
"We are solving a practical problem, because we need wood chips to heat Estonian homes, and natural wood is used for its production. In the future, remote hunters will be able to use wood chips made from wood waste more easily," said Environment Minister Madis Kallas Madis Kallas is an Estoniani politician. . "Such material that is suitable for chipping is, for example, unprocessed wood left over from the demolition of old houses, as well as old bases or table material and tiles. In this way, more of the material necessary for the production of wood chips remains in the forest."
One of the reasonable uses of wood waste is to burn it for heat. Until now, however, it has been very strictly regulated, and district heating stations have not been able to use wood waste. However, the use of wood waste as fuel requires that the quality of the wood chips is guaranteed and that it does not contain dangerous or polluting substances. The chip maker is obliged to fulfill the requirements both when selling wood chips and when giving them away free of charge.
According to the Deputy Chancellor of the Ministry of the Environment, Kaupo Heinma, looking into the future, it is important to find other uses for wood waste that would better take into account the principle of circular economy. "However, until new products are made from wood waste on a large scale, using it as an energy source is better than simply not handling it," said Heinma.