An analysis of the degree of circularity of the wood products industry in Europe

Abstract

By developing products derived from materials included in what is nowadays called bioeconomy, the wood products industry is today receiving considerable attention for its potential to provide more environment-friendly materials. At the same time, this and other industries are transforming to obtain more circular production systems. This study aims to analyze circularity in this type of industry at a European Union level, by establishing a ranking of countries based on their performance in an aggregate circularity index. This task has been set up by taking an initial joint set of indicators for all countries and covering a time horizon of up to 19 years. After proceeding to normalize those indicators and applying an analysis of correlation, a biannual ranking (from 2008 to 2018) was made, using for this purpose a multicriteria decision-making model that includes three different types of solutions. Next, a statistical model that helped to explain the rankings previously obtained was proposed, in which a set of 15 explanatory variables were defined. The results showed that Sweden, and to a lesser extent Portugal, are the countries presenting a more circular wood products industry, whereas the Benelux countries give the worst result. Moreover, the statistical models showed that the variables related to trade had a negative relationship with circularity, but some of them exerted a strong effect, such as the ratio “production/exports.” Global competitiveness also tended to diminish wood circularity. Other variables, like those related to research and development, had a strong effect positively linked to circularity.