Estimating the material stock in wooden residential houses in Finland
Open accessAbstract
The aims of this study were to quantify the amount of wood in residential houses in Finland in 2017 that could be available for cascading, and to characterize the age distribution and gross floor area of the houses in the stock. Through a bottom-up material stock analysis, the mass of wood and the gross floor area of buildings in each building type and construction period were estimated. The study found that 10 million tons of wood are contained in the structures of residential houses built before 1969, equivalent to around 59% of the stock. Since much of this stock is nearing end of life, this material should soon become available for cascading so providing a significant potential resource. It was also found that, overall, the structural parts of residential houses embody 17.5 million tons of wood, of which around 9 million tons is, theoretically, reusable and recyclable. However, for effective reuse and recycling, further analysis of the quality, type and future availability of recovered wood is required. The current results could be used for material stock and flow analyses to help planning for the use of recovered wood. Further research is needed to fill in gaps in the time-series of the number and gross floor area of buildings constructed and their average gross floor area. Moreover, a material intensity analysis of Finnish buildings is needed to better quantify the wood used.
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A large amount of material waste is generated by the demolition sector, including timber that can be reused or recycled for structural purposes.
“A large amount of material waste is generated by the demolition sector, including timber that can be reused or recycled for structural purposes [1 -4].”
From Grading of recovered Norway spruce (Picea abies) timber for structural purposes (2023) · cites this paper as [3]
The Introduction reports that construction and demolition generate substantial waste, including wood, and says recovered wood may be reused or recycled depending on its quality. Section 3.4 identifies substantial wood stock in structural parts of houses, but the paper does not establish that recovered timber is suitable for structural use specifically. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Nasiri, B., Piccardo, C., & Hughes, M.
- Affiliations
- Aalto University (FI)
- Linnaeus University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Nasiri, Bahareh
- Venue
- Waste Management
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-11
- Volume
- 135
- Pages
- 318-326
- ISSN
- 0956-053X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3199567227
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 1.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Waste Management (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Aaltodoc (Aalto University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Tekniikan Edistamissaatio
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Sustainable Design and Development
- Keywords
- material stocks, cascading, recovered wood, gross floor area, construction time, material intensity
- MeSH terms
- Finland, Housing, Wood, Recycling
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