UK waste wood market still oversupplied after 'unprecedented' 2025 disruption

UK waste wood stocks remain well above normal levels more than a year after what the Wood Recyclers' Association calls 'unprecedented' disruption at biomass and panel board facilities in 2025.

The WRA, the trade body for the sector, says conditions have improved since last year but the market has not fully recovered. High stock levels persist across the UK and outlets for material remain constrained.

The consequence is operational, not rhetorical. Many wood recyclers have had to limit the volumes they can accept, particularly where storage capacity is stretched. The lingering impact of the 2025 outages has made it difficult for some suppliers to find suitable outlets and has put upward pressure on gate fees.

What caused the disruption?

In 2025, unplanned outages and planned maintenance at major biomass and panel board facilities caused what the WRA describes as 'unprecedented disruption'. Those facilities are the principal end-use outlets for UK waste wood. When they go down, material has nowhere to go.

The market is still absorbing the consequences. The WRA says the UK continues to feel the effects of an extended period of oversupply.

Julia Turner, Executive Director of the WRA, said: 'While conditions are better than they were last year, there remains more material in the market than normal and outlet capacity remains tight.'

She added: 'Many recyclers are working hard to keep material moving, but high stock levels mean some sites continue to restrict intake, which can make it more difficult for those seeking outlets for their waste wood.'

Why did volumes rise again this summer?

Demand for material improved over winter, offering a partial reprieve. But two factors reversed that trend in the summer months:

• Increasing waste wood arisings
• Seasonal downtime at end-use facilities

The weather played its part too. The dry summer lowered the moisture content of waste wood, which means both the biomass and panel board sectors require less material to meet demand. Drier wood carries more energy per tonne, so the same output needs fewer tonnes.

Stock levels are gradually reducing, the WRA says, but in many areas they remain well above normal. The surplus is shrinking; it has not gone.

What is the WRA asking producers to do?

The association is encouraging organisations producing waste wood to segregate material wherever possible and focus on quality. Cleaner, sorted streams find homes more easily in a market where buyers hold the leverage.

It is a modest ask, and a telling one. When outlets are tight, quality becomes the differentiator between material that moves and material that sits.

What else is squeezing recyclers?

Market pressure is not the only burden. The WRA notes that wood recyclers face increasing operational costs, including:

• Higher fuel prices
• Additional reporting requirements associated with Digital Waste Tracking

Digital Waste Tracking adds an administrative layer to a sector already managing constrained storage and tight margins. For operators, the direction of travel on costs is uniformly upward.

What decides what happens next?

The recovery hinges on end-use capacity. Stock levels are falling gradually, but the pace depends on biomass and panel board facilities running without the outages that defined 2025. Until then, recyclers will keep restricting intake and gate fees will stay under pressure.

Watch the winter demand cycle and the return of full operations at major end-use facilities. That combination decides whether 2026 brings relief or another year of managed surplus.