Accoya Wood Honored with Cradle to Cradle Products Innovator Award

Accoya wood, manufactured by Accsys Technologies, was honored with the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovator Award, recognizing those that are designing for upcycling and making products with safe ingredients that are perpetually cycled and manufactured in ways that respect humans and the environment. The evening celebrations followed the second annual Product Symposium where business leaders gathered in New York City to engage in a community of practice around sustainable design and Cradle to Cradle philosophy.

“We are very honored to be recognized by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute with this award,” says Paul Clegg, CEO of Accsys Technologies. “The award supports our continuous commitment to Cradle to Cradle based product development and strengthens our position as an innovator and leader and wood products technology, as well as a key contributor to a more sustainable building industry.”

Accsys Technologies’ Accoya wood represents a significant breakthrough in the wood industry. The wood is produced in a low-energy process using only sustainably sourced timber made from the fastest growing species. Through the acetylation process, the part of the wood that readily bonds with water is replaced by acetyl groups, which are naturally occurring in wood. Without adding any toxic substances, it values materials health to the Platinum level, the highest level possible under Cradle to Cradle Product Standard. At the end-of-use, Accoya can be treated in a similar way to untreated wood and recycled or upcycled; used as a clean fuel source for utilities; or if just discarded is eventually 100 percent biodegradable over an extended time. Accoya has been used in some of the world’s most extreme conditions, including submerged pedestrian bridges, commercial docks, canal linings, and more. Thus it is the first product fully compatible with the bio-cycle while being able to match or even exceed performance of nutrients typically found in the techno-cycle.

The 2015 Cradle to Cradle Product Symposium and Innovation Celebration hosted in New York City was dedicated toward helping every participant visualize their own path to safer materials, perpetually cycled. The full-day program included plenaries, panel discussions, case studies and breakout sessions for all participants with Accoya included in several of these sessions as exemplary case. For more information, please visit C2C Product Symposium website.