The growing demand for raw wood material supply in the EU is increasing pressure on forest resources in the ENP target region. Non-sustainable forestry and uncontrolled timber harvesting have led to a significant loss of forest area in the Carpathians (Ukraine) and the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaidjan) with far reaching impacts. The RERAM project targets the local wood processing industries, which consume substantial volumes with high losses of the raw wood material. By raising awareness on resource efficiency and valorising hands-on knowlegde and solutions as well as training and coaching to local entrepreneurs, the project seizes a major opportunity to improve clean production and climate change mitigation in these emerging hotspot forest regions.

This Handbook is a practical guide for managers and technical personnel on how to improve production efficiency with the goal to save input costs and reduce environmental impacts at the same time. Most woodworking companies are not aware that inefficient production generates large losses of material and energy and sum up to considerable costs. Wastes and emissions once were input materials, which were bought for money, but have not been converted into products to be sold for money. This handbook introduces Cleaner Production principles, tools and improvement options that can leverage a variety of saving potentials in SMEs. The solutions can easily be applied in any company.