2012 Volume 23 Issue 6 Pages 468-475
About 240,000 tons of bulky wood debris, including objects such as posts and beams from houses destroyed in the tsunami disaster, has been accumulated along the coastal area of Iwate Prefecture. Because they are of a higher quality than other wood waste materials which are thin and less durable, these wood materials are expected to be used for biomass fuel as well as raw material for the manufacturing of particle board. By the end of August 2012, approximately 30,000 tons of wood debris had been incinerated, recycled into fuel for cement production or used as the raw material for making particle board, along with other uses. About one-fifth of all the wood wastes were recycled into a kind of particle board known as hukko-board.
Following the tsunami, some members of Iwate University and Iwate Prefectural University initiated activities to support the manufacture and utilization of hukko-board soon. In this paper, the progress of such activities to support this type of re-use is introduced. Also, the paper discusses the utilization of hukko-board as a structural element of housing for tsunami victims.
