# IKEA 1% of the world's wood every year. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874 "2013-07-07T16:03:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/1 "2013-07-07T16:03:08Z")
By wood they mean sawdust of course. 😛 The article discusses IKEA’s particle board factory in southern Sweden. I don’t see this as a problem. We should be thankful IKEA’s particle board furniture is so popular. The alternative would be to sell real furniture with wood veneers. Cherry, Maple, Oak, and other hardwoods. I bet the forest management people are thankful people are happy with particle board covered in plastic laminate. This is a strange article. WTH would anyone even think IKEA uses illegally logged wood? 😕 They aren’t doing mahogany and ebony inlays. They aren’t using any hardwoods at all. Particle board is made from the cheapest and most worthless trees they can find. Doesn’t matter how warped, split, or knotty. The wood chipper turns it into sawdust shavings. Much of this wood would have been useless trash back when furniture was made with hardwood veneers. Particle board is a very efficient building material. There’s almost no waste like there is with traditional lumber. > [@](#): > > The retailer insists that none of the wood is illegally logged I wonder how they are recycling the wood? Is there a process to strip off the plastic laminate? Or can the wood chipper handle the boards with the laminate still attached? (i.e. would shredded plastic contaminate the wood shavings). > [@](#): > > Almost a quarter, 23%, of all wood used by the discount furniture peddler meets Forest Stewardship Council standards, according to last year’s IKEA Sustainability Report. The goal is to have half of all wood used meeting those standards by 2017, the report further explained. > **[IKEA uses a staggering 1% of the world's wood every year](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357216/IKEA-uses-staggering-1-worlds-wood-year.html)** > > Outraged as many may be, critics and their eco-conscience friends might pause before deciding to chain themselves to a forest of Scandinavian trees, the company has a sustainability plan for all this wood. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/2 "2013-07-07T17:18:37Z")
Yes, it’s a nonsense article. > [@](#): > > Hultsfred, according to National Geographic, plows through 150,000 loose cubic yards of pine saw dust every single day. This in addition to the spruce trees thrown into massive wood chippers, that combine with the saw dust and a vile glue-like mixture containing synthetic urea to make the particle board. > > The factory churns out so much of the stuff that a giant dryer capable of holding 45 tons of the saw dust-wood chip mixture refills every hour before sucking all the moisture out of the former trees at a temperature of 840 degrees Fahrenheit, National Geographic reported. > > After combining the wood with the revolting glue, urea is found in urine, the processed particle boards are loaded onto giant rotating drying racks that can hold 90 of the massive boards, reported National Geographic. Seriously? They’re calling the glue vile and revolting? I expected them to start talking about the suffering of the noble trees as their spirits were crushed in the harsh unforgiving machines made of steel. Steel - the same material used to make guns that kill people. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/3 "2013-07-07T17:41:14Z")
I think they meant “revolving”, like in the dryer. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/4 "2013-07-07T17:42:27Z")
I need to look through my Nat Geo Magazines for this original article. I’ve had a subscription for over 25 years. They’ve really started annoying me lately with some of their more extreme Eco articles. If it keeps up then I won’t bother renewing the subscription. Particle board was originally developed to save trees. All the wasted sawdust from lumber mills and other manufacturing is sold to make particle board. It’s one of our most efficient uses for wood and is sustainable. They use trees that can grow in just a few years, get harvested, and replanted. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/5 "2013-07-07T18:44:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Yes, it’s a nonsense article.Seriously? They’re calling the glue vile and revolting? > > I expected them to start talking about the suffering of the noble trees as their spirits were crushed in the harsh unforgiving machines made of steel. Steel - the same material used to make guns that kill people. That sentence (“After combining the wood with the revolting glue, urea is found in urine, the processed particle boards are loaded onto giant rotating drying racks that can hold 90 of the massive boards, reported National Geographic.”) is nonsensical. What is the meaning of the “urea is found in urine” parenthetical phrase? And BTW, I don’t think this was from a print article but instead a documentary. The article links to [National Geographic TV Shows, Specials & Documentaries](http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ultimate-factories/videos/ikea/). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/6 "2013-07-07T18:56:18Z")
I accidentally 1% of the world’s wood every year. Is this dangerous? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/7 "2013-07-07T18:59:19Z")
The whole wood? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/8 "2013-07-07T19:51:25Z")
Maybe the “vile” part means that urea resin glues tend to be kind of toxic until they’ve cured? Also… is that dryer in a vacuum? 840 degrees seems like it would just reduce the wood to ash if oxygen were present. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/9 "2013-07-07T21:14:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Doesn’t matter how warped, split, or knotty. The wood chipper turns it into sawdust shavings. Much of this wood would have been useless trash back when furniture was made with hardwood veneers. Particle board is a very efficient building material. There’s almost no waste like there is with traditional lumber. You seem to be implying that particle board furniture is inconsistent with the use of hardwood veneers. That’s certainly not true. And hardwood veneers over a particleboard base is probably easier on the environment that using a hardwood slab. However particle board furniture is a bit questionable from an ecological standpoint because it’s not particularly durable or repairable. Once the veneer is scratched or delaminates, there’s no much the average handyman can do about it. With hardwood, you can always sand and refinish it. Particle board furniture also doesn’t lend itself to much in the way of creative woodworking, because you can’t rout or shape it easily. I’m tremendously skeptical of that 1% of the world’s wood figure, unless they qualify it in some way. If you consider construction lumber, wood for paper mills, and fire wood as well as hard woods, I would have guessed IKEA’s share of the market to be a lot smaller. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/10 "2013-07-07T23:50:33Z")
It’s been 15 or more years since I visited an IKEA. I see a lot of “assemble it yourself” furniture at Walmart and Sams. Have they moved beyond plastic laminate finishes? I knew particle board was the base under a lot of wood veneer furniture. It’s a good base for that purpose, ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/11 "2013-07-08T00:27:01Z")
Oh it’s from the Daily Mail? What a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/12 "2013-07-10T00:23:03Z")
Ikea don’t just use particle board you know. There’s plenty of solid timber in their more upmarket products and products that need to be structurally sound such as beds and couches. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/13 "2013-07-10T00:38:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That sentence (“After combining the wood with the revolting glue, urea is found in urine, the processed particle boards are loaded onto giant rotating drying racks that can hold 90 of the massive boards, reported National Geographic.”) is nonsensical. What is the meaning of the “urea is found in urine” parenthetical phrase? Maybe literally putting it in parentheses would make it clearer: “After combining the wood with the revolting glue (urea is found in urine), the processed particle boards…” So it is explaining why the glue is revolting\*. I don’t really agree but I think I get what they’re saying. \*probably because it wants to unionize. I’ll be here all week, try the lutefisk. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/14 "2013-07-10T05:55:00Z")
What I want to know is whether synthetic urea is more revolting than using pee. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/15 "2013-07-10T06:47:51Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Maybe literally putting it in parentheses would make it clearer: > > “After combining the wood with the revolting glue (urea is found in urine), the processed particle boards…” > > So it is explaining why the glue is revolting\*. I don’t really agree but I think I get what they’re saying. > > \*probably because it wants to unionize. I’ll be here all week, try the lutefisk. Why is the glue ionized? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/16 "2013-07-10T07:50:13Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I’m tremendously skeptical of that 1% of the world’s wood figure, unless they qualify it in some way. If you consider construction lumber, wood for paper mills, and fire wood as well as hard woods, I would have guessed IKEA’s share of the market to be a lot smaller. According to [FAO](http://www.fao.org/forestry/12711-0e94fe2a7dae258fbb8bc48e5cc09b0d8.pdf), “the estimated annual wood consumption is now around 3.5 billion cubic meters” & “The industrial wood consumption along the last 20 years […] in 2005 achieved around 1.55 billion cubic meters” The figure quoted in the article is that IKEA uses 17.8M cubic yards which is 13.6M cubic meters. This is a bit less than 0.4% of all wood consumption and a bit less than 1% of industrial wood consumption. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/17 "2013-07-10T11:39:35Z")
I doubt this statistic very much. Anybody know how much wood is consumed by single use chopsticks? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/18 "2013-07-10T11:54:28Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I doubt this statistic very much. Anybody know how much wood is consumed by single use chopsticks? You’re not meant to consume the chopsticks, Ralph. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/19 "2013-07-10T13:25:11Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Ikea don’t just use particle board you know. There’s plenty of solid timber in their more upmarket products and products that need to be structurally sound such as beds and couches. I didn’t even know IKEA used particle board. All of the furniture pieces I have are real wood. I guess that just shows how high class I am. I am a real-wood-IKEA-purchaser. I am the 1%. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874/20 "2013-07-10T13:54:30Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Maybe literally putting it in parentheses would make it clearer: > > “After combining the wood with the revolting glue (urea is found in urine), the processed particle boards…” > > So it is explaining why the glue is revolting\*. I don’t really agree but I think I get what they’re saying. > > \*probably because it wants to unionize. I’ll be here all week, try the lutefisk. It’s still idiotic; they could write about soup and say “After combining the vegetables with the revolting stock (water is found in urine)…” Urea’s a nitrogenous chemical compound that happens to be in urine, along with a host of other chemicals. Doesn’t necessarily make it revolting in and of itself. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ikea-1-of-the-worlds-wood-every-year/662874.md?page=2)