When recycled wood is the norm

Photo: Point design

Tell us briefly about the prototype. What questions are you exploring through your future prototype?

- To meet a future with limited raw material supply and eligibility requirements for sustainable forest management, the view of both virgin and recycled wood products needs to change, says Markus Lagerqvist, project manager for Skogsvärdekänslan. In our future prototype Skogsvärdekänslan, we explore a future where recycled wood is the norm.

- Increased recycling of wood leads to more efficient resource use and at the same time reduces the amount of waste. Including recycled wood in planning processes leads to a reduced need for extraction of wood raw materials from the forest, which ultimately benefits biodiversity. Our project explores how shifts in norms among end consumers and actors in the forest value chain can affect this.

- With digital product passports – soon to be introduced in the EU – the origin and quality of wood is tracked, increasing trust in recycling. We explore how these passports can take on an emotional dimension: stories about the journey of wood, from forest to building, bring the material to life. Through speculative design, we create a future where recycled wood carries history, status and inspiration – and where circular choices become self-evident.

Experience the prototype at: https://forestvaluechange.com/

Photo: Point design

Who are you trying to reach?

- The prototype is aimed at all actors in the forest value chain who will use digital product passports, such as forest companies, sawmills, designers, warehouses, building trade, construction contractors, architectural offices and waste and recycling companies. We also want to reach out to end consumers of wood products, both companies and private consumers who drive demand for recycled wood products - from buildings to furniture.

How is the prototype designed? And how have your target groups been able to interact with the prototype?

- The future prototype contained several parts where the focus was on showing how stories about the journey of wood, from forest to building, can be linked to a product passport. To illustrate this, we displayed three recycled wooden products; a wooden house in the form of a model, a skirting board and a guitar. By scanning a QR code on each product, the visitor came to a website with information about the recycled material and its history.

To complement these artifacts, we also developed a “physical digital product passport” in the form of a printed passport where you can follow the journey of the material, much like you can follow a person’s journey from the stamps in a passport. We also printed a series of posters that told about our future scenario, about the digital product passports and about the concept of the “timber terminal” - a future industrial hub for wood recycling.

The prototype was shown at the LIGNA trade fair in Hannover, a world-leading trade fair for actors in the wood industry. There, Point and Rise held a seminar day where representatives from different parts of the forest value chain talked about the future and where visitors were able to interact with our prototype. The prototype was then exhibited at the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg. The public was also given the opportunity to see the prototype.

Photo: Point design

What thoughts and feelings has the prototype aroused in the target group?

- Recurring, spontaneous words that visitors from the forest value chain at LIGNA used when describing their reactions to the prototype were “emotional”, “motivated”, “inspired”, “interesting”, “innovative” and “hopeful”. A recurring reflection was that it made them think about how the industry can do things differently in the future:

“New opportunities and ways of thinking.”
“To see into the future.”
“It made me think about the importance of using information correctly.”
“I will keep this in mind when I build my next house.”

Several reacted to the emotional aspect of including the history of the material:

“Knowing the history behind a wood product strengthens the relationship.”
“It was a good illustration of how to create value with sustainability-related information.”

Several visitors to the Röhsska Museum commented that even though it is a prototype of the future, it still feels close to reality;

“We'll be here soon!”

Another actor saw that we painted a desirable future in a credible and attractive way:

“There are so many pieces of the puzzle that are going on in relation to what you presented at the exhibition. But the problem is that we often fail to create a good vision of what it could look like, and I thought you had achieved that!”

A recycling operator exclaimed enthusiastically “That’s us in the future, we’re the timber terminal.”

Many of those who have had the opportunity to react to the prototype have experienced that it is in line with a desirable future, which they can see themselves as a part of. We believe that one of the reasons for this is that we developed the prototype together with actors in the forest value chain and consulted with them along the way, and that the scenario we started from is based on insights from actors in the forest value chain. The fact that we have a clear recipient and manager of the prototype - the Rise and Enter project - also means that we have been pragmatic and created something that is easy to adopt and generates benefit.

What are your plans for the prototype going forward?

- Already at the start of the project, we began discussing how we would set up the process to create the best possible conditions for a continuation. Barely three months for a project is a short time, and with the connections to the Enter project that Rise runs, we saw early on several possible ways to explore circularity and digital product passports in a more practical way. If our prototype explores the long-term potential of digital product passports to create new sustainable business models - how can we test this on a small scale here and now? We have initiated discussions with various actors to explore whether we can apply to the call for proposals "Business models for sustainable forest-based industries", to continue the process of backcasting to narrow down strategic choices.

Thank you very much Markus!

Read more about Vinnova's transformation journey for a sustainable forest value chain