Speaking at the association’s AGM in Edinburgh earlier this month Angus Macpherson, MD of The Environment Exchange, a marketplace for PRNs, explained that an increase in the UK wood recycling target had led to an all-time high in the price, and further target rises scheduled for the next two years would present 'a significant challenge for the wood sector'.

Macpherson said that the current UK recycling targets for wood were based on the draft EU Circular Economy Package, which meant UK targets were increased to 38% this year and are due to rise to 43% and 48% in the next two years; while in the final EU Circular Economy Package wood-material-specific recycling and reuse targets are now lower, at 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

He said: “In the short term, TIMCON may wish to address the pre-2020 targets otherwise, unless wood recycling issues outside their control change radically, every producer faces paying pretty large sums of money for the next three years.”

He added that the industry’s discussions with Defra would be helped by collecting and communicating good quality data, something that TIMCON is already doing well in the pallet and packaging sector.