Research project FORest materials: opportunities and obstacles for a Circular Economy in Sweden (FORCES)

FORCES is a project that aims to explore the potential of forest materials as enablers of a circular economy. The project will bring together three research groups with expertise in materials chemistry, chemical and environmental regulation, and sustainability science. The main objective of the project is to assess the opportunities and obstacles of a transition to a circular system for forest materials, taking into account technological, regulatory, and social-ecological aspects. The project has two specific objectives: qualitatively investigate opportunities and obstacles to a circular system for forest materials and assess the readiness of Swedish forest products to a circular economy. The expected outcomes of the project include a multifactorial tool to assess circularity readiness and potential of forest products, a dataset of Swedish forest products according to established sustainable circularity criteria, recommendations for promoting circularity and sustainability of forest materials in policy and regulation, and identification of paths for further interdisciplinary projects.