Network Collaborations: SCGC X Ellen MacArthur Foundation Members Addressing the Important Role of Wood-based Materials and Regenerative Forestry in the Circular Economy

Published in November 2024, the paper “Realizing the Potential of a Circular Economy for Wood-based Materials: The Opportunities of Regenerative Forestry” explores the importance of wood-based materials and regenerative forestry within a circular economy.  SCG Chemicals or SCGC, one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Asia and a key industry leader, participates in this collaborative project to assess current forestry practices and analyze the potential benefits of regenerative forestry for the environment, the economy, and society.

The Background

The paper, commissioned by a steering group of users of wood-based materials: SCG Chemicals (SCGC), Metsä Group, Essity and Tetra Pak, is an outcome of an interdisciplinary collaborative project involving members from the scientific community and industry partners within the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy Network. It is also endorsed by a larger group of companies who were consulted at different stages of the project including: H&M Group; Haleon; Marimekko; CHEP and Brambles.

This paper emphasizes several key points:

• • Forests and forest-based value chains play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle by capturing and storing carbon, thus lowering atmospheric CO₂.
  • Forests offer a multitude of ecosystem services beyond just wood, fiber, and fuel. These include erosion control, nutrient cycling, water purification, climate regulation, and opportunities for recreation and tourism.
  • To ensure healthy and resilient forests that continue providing these diverse ecosystem services, a shift away from intensive forest management toward a model prioritizing long-term ecosystem health is necessary.
  • Regenerative forestry complements existing value chains, with solid wood products like timber and engineered wood serving as the foundation for applications in construction and housing.

SCGC Actions

To achieve climate goals, the plastics industry must prioritize reducing, reusing, and recycling plastics, thus decoupling its production from fossil fuels. Responsibly sourced bio-based and bio-derived plastics can contribute to these efforts.  SCGC is addressing this challenge by meeting the increasing demand for renewable, biomass-derived polymers. Our product portfolio developments focus on biomass-based polyolefins and polymers created from captured CO₂.

Biomass feedstock can be derived from organic waste such as crop and farm residues, forestry waste and residues, pulping by-products, compost or used cooking oils. Manufactured with renewable feedstocks, polyolefins significantly reduce CO₂ emissions while offering equally high material performance as conventional fossil-based polymers, and in applications with long life cycles, even serve as a form of carbon storage.

Renewable polyolefins contribute to the decoupling of plastics from the use of fossil feedstocks and to the circular economy by being fully recyclable in existing municipal waste collection schemes and plastics recycling facilities.

The Next Step

Regenerative forestry enhances the circularity of wood-based value chains. To promote a more circular economy for these materials, the paper recommends several actions to move forward: 1) Recognize and develop the circular properties of wood-based materials, prioritizing circular economy principles like reuse, recycling, and redistribution. Further, acknowledge the potential of bio-based materials as substitutes within climate, product, and circular economy policies; 2) Establish internationally agreed-upon definitions for terms related to regenerative concepts.  Standardized frameworks for forest management are urgently needed, emphasizing biodiversity and ecosystem resilience; and 3) Collaboratively develop biodiversity metrics to provide a foundation for a regenerative paradigm.

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About Ellen MacArthur Foundation The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to create a circular economy to help tackle climate change, pollution, and waste. The foundation's work is based on three principles: Eliminate waste and pollution, Circulate products and materials at their highest value and Regenerate nature. The foundation was established in 2010 and is based in the UK, with a presence in other countries including Belgium, China, Brazil, and the US. The foundation works with decision-makers in business, government, and academia to develop circular economy initiatives and solutions. The foundation's areas of focus include: education, business and government, insight and analysis, and communications.