Not a single piece goes to waste

From the log to the very last chip: at Pfeifer, wood as a raw material is utilised almost entirely. Anything produced as a by-product during sawing, planing or processing becomes a raw material for new products or is used to generate energy.

On arrival at the sawmill, the logs are debarked and cut to the correct length. The bark is usually used for energy, providing heat and electricity, for example for drying timber. Trimmings are shredded into wood chips and can be used as raw material for the paper, pulp and board industries or also for energy production.

During the sawing process, other valuable by-products are produced alongside sawn timber. Side boards, for example, are processed into pallets and other packaging products.

Wood chips serve as the raw material for the production of boards, whilst sawdust is processed into pellets, amongst other things. This ensures that the raw material remains in material use for as long as possible before it is used for energy at the end of its usage chain.

The further processing of sawn timber also produces shavings, planing shavings, cut-offs and sanding dust. Depending on their quality and characteristics, these are processed into boards or pellets. Wood residues that cannot be reused in material form can in turn be used to generate heat.

And even after combustion, the journey is not quite over: a large proportion of the ash produced can, for example, be used in the cement industry or for soil stabilisation and in the construction of forest roads. Only small quantities need to be disposed of properly.

From by-product to new raw material

The key concept behind the almost complete utilisation of wood is ‘cascade utilisation’: wood should be used for as long as possible and to the highest possible standard. Only when material use is no longer possible or practical does energy recovery come into play.

In this way, the original tree trunk gives rise to a whole chain of products and uses – whilst waste is reduced to a minimum.

Wood utilisation in figures

20 million m³
of wood were harvested in Austria in 2024. 100 per cent of this was put to further use.

56%
of the timber harvested consisted of saw logs and was processed by the sawmill industry.

up to 30%
can be produced as wood chips during sawing – an important raw material for the board, paper and pulp industries.

28 %
was used directly for energy.

16.1%was industrial timber for the pulp, paper and board industries.

approx. 10%
of the volume is bark, which arises during the sawing of spruce timber and is predominantly used for energy.

1.3 million fm
of waste and reclaimed timber were used in Austria in 2021 for the production of chipboard and fibreboard – around one third of the total consumption of this industry.

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