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Media > Media
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Friday, 24 February 2012 Recycling: Tafisa Canada’s new favourite word  back These days, the health of the Canadian wood industry is a key concern for many Canadians. This industry has to deal with various pressures such as fluctuations in demand for its products, acceleration of technological innovation and compliance with the principles of sustainable development. For Tafisa Canada, meeting its current wood supply needs without compromising the environment for future generations is one of the many issues at heart behind its decision to integrate recycled wood into its production process.
Tafisa Canada has faced some serious challenges over the years but has managed so far to maintain its position as leader in the manufacturing of particleboards and decorative thermofused melamine panels. However, like many companies in the wood industry, Tafisa Canada must rethink the way it manages its wood supply as the available raw material is becoming increasingly limited by economic and physical constraints. Wood waste can still be reused While people are beginning to view wood waste more broadly, the options for the disposal of waste generated from construction and demolition (C&D) activities are still considered by many as limited aside from being expensive. Tafisa couldn’t pass up the opportunity to position itself early on as a wood waste consumer. With amounting difficulties in obtaining wood fibre for its production process, the company realized that it could divert tons of waste generated in the construction and demolition sector into its production process. Not only would Tafisa be ensuring its wood supply, the company would be contributing to the preservation of the environment. After the construction of its wood recycling facility, aptly named Rewood, Tafisa began in 2005 to use recycled wood materials in the composition of its panels as a substitute for wood fibre, thus reducing its supply cost and opening itself to the possibility of diversifying its product range. Tafisa Canada keeps its sights on the future With the changes in legislation regarding wood waste management and to counteract the difficulties it has been experiencing so far in terms of wood supply, Tafisa Canada realized that it had to move forward with the upgrade of its wood recycling equipment. The project was viewed favourably which prompted the federal and provincial governments to lend their financial support. With this additional investment, Tafisa Canada was able to complete the upgrade of its recycling equipment during the summer of 2011 and is now capable of recycling 244 000 tons of diverted wood annually, which is the equivalent of about 2 million trees. The use of these residual materials enables the company to operate on a continuous basis, ensuring the sustainability of its operations and the preservation of jobs in the region. The Québec government considers it essential to support projects such as the one developed by Tafisa Canada which has doubled the quantity of reclaimed wood that it can reuse. On January 16, 2012, Tafisa Canada had the pleasure of hosting a press conference to officially announce the financial contribution it received to upgrade its wood recycling facility. Québec’s Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade and Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale region, Mr. Sam Hamad, and the Member of the National Assembly for Mégantic-Compton, Mrs. Johanne Gonthier, were present during the press conference to officially confirm the remittance of a $5M loan from Investissement Québec as well as a financial contribution of $450,000 from RECYC-QUÉBEC. The announcement was positively received by various news media and covered at length across the province of Québec. It was even the “economic news of the day” on one of the national networks. The environmentally friendly message delivered by the media managed to put an optimistic spin on the current economic situation which is why RECYCLING has become Tafisa Canada’s new favourite word. back |