Giving old timber a new lease of life

Forestia, one of Innlandet's cornerstone companies, plans to clean waste wood from its own operations and is making a major investment in a new production line to process it. The facility will make an important contribution to the circular economy and green transition, and the factory is expected to create as many as 100 jobs in Braskereidfoss, Våler municipality.

After our board decided in spring 2022 to award Forestia grants totalling NOK 80 million, the project can now go ahead.

Forestia is one of Scandinavia's largest manufacturers of wood fibre boards and currently generates around 45 per cent of its revenue from exports. These boards are largely made from virgin wood chips. Growing demand and new EU requirements are driving up wood chip prices, prompting the company to explore new solutions.

The new production facility in Våler will sort and process mixed waste wood, with the aim of replacing around 40 per cent of the wood chips currently used in panel production with recycled material. The process will remove magnetic and non-magnetic metals, heavy metals, plastic fragments and chemical compounds from used wood, producing an end product of almost the same quality as virgin wood.

The process will sequester almost 160,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Under EU requirements, Innlandet must reduce its CO2 emissions by 55 per cent by 2030. This facility alone is expected to account for 13 per cent of that target.

Our funding will primarily support the design and construction of the facility in Våler. It will be the first of its kind in Norway and play an important role in competing internationally.

'We are delighted that a local company is seeking to establish an international position by adopting new circular value chains. Forestia is using existing technology in new ways, creating a positive environmental impact and helping to strengthen the company's competitiveness,' says EVP Sverre Bjørnstad at Innovation Norway Innlandet.

This is the largest funding package our regional office in Innlandet has ever provided. The NOK 80 million comprises grants for environmental technology and environmental investments, as well as a significant contribution from the county authority's regional development funds. We administer these county authority funds through a scheme designed to safeguard and create jobs in rural municipalities.

Forestia first applied for project funding in 2020, but the funding scheme’s criteria prevented us from providing the support the company needed. In Norway’s 2022 national budget, we received NOK 100 million for a green investment grant aimed at industrial companies in rural areas, enabling us to support the project.

'Throughout this process, we have received invaluable support from Innovation Norway. They have gone the extra mile and shown a genuine commitment to helping us every step of the way. They have provided expertise, networks and innovative thinking to help us find solutions, ultimately resulting in the approval of our application,' says Kristian Hanssen, CEO of Forestia.