This year from June 3rd to June 5th the excursion “wood-based resources” took place again. It was conducted by the chair of sustainable business economics (SBE).The 22 students participating in this year’s field trip got to learn all about the different life cycle stages of wood and wood products up until the recycling and reuse stages and got to stay in the beautiful youth hostel in the old castle of Nuremberg.
The excursion started with visiting “Kelheim Fibers”. Located right next to the Danube the company founded back in 1936 is the world’s leading manufacturer of specialty viscose fibers. After a short introduction about the company’s history and product portfolio, the students got a tour through the whole company, following the path of the viscose fibers to their final stages to either use for clothing, hygiene products and many more.
Next stopp was “Binderholz” in Kösching. “Binderholz”, founded as a family business sawmill in 1950 is nowadays a global player in the wood industry. The students had the chance to get insights in the production of solid wood products. From the sorting facility, where the timber is categorized by diameter, length and species to the sawmill itself, where the logs are cut several times. Finally, the students also got insights in the packaging area of “Binderholz” and had the opportunity to learn even more about the company in a little Q&A session.
After the guided tour through the sawmill, and a joined dinner at the “Biergarten Kopernikus”, the students got to spend the night in the youth hotel in the old castle of Nuremberg.
The next day started with a guided tour through the old town center of Nuremberg, where the students got to see the historic landmarks of the city and learned a lot about Nuremberg’s history.
Next on the agenda was a guided tour through “Die Grünen Engel”, a recycling company in Nuremberg, located directly at the harbor. The company specializes in processing construction, commercial and industrial waste. The students got to see how the waste and different types of gravel from construction are sorted. Alongside with that, the group also got to visit the wood processing unit, where scrap wood is sorted according to different quality-categories and recycled for later use and among others send to “Pfleiderer” where they make particle boards from it.
Since “Die Grünen Engel” and “Pfleiderer” work closely together, it was only logical to visit “Pfleiderer” next. “Pfleiderer” is producing a wide range of wood-based panels. Here again the students were guided through the company and learned about how the different wood-based panels are made. The participants even had the chance to get insights in their wood-processing unit, where they sort and recycle scrap-wood chips.
The day came to an end with a joint dinner at “Das Hexenhäusle” close to the youth hostel in Nuremberg where the students spent another night in the old castle.
The last day of the excursion started a bit differently when the students did not visit a company but a forest, managed by the Bavarian state forests in Kaisheim. The students were guided through the forest, learning a lot about how to make forests more resilient to extreme weather and the climate change, as well as about how to identify different tree species and which of those are best suited for a future, climate resilient forest.
The last stop of the three-day excursion was a company called “Baufritz” in Erkheim. “Baufritz” specialized in building eco-friendly prefabricated houses. During the guided tour through their factory halls, the students learned about all the steps necessary to build such houses and the materials used during construction. They also had a very interesting talk from a construction biologist and even got to visit some show homes on the property of “Baufritz”