Turning Recovered Wood Into the Alternative to Solid Timber

About Union Wood Works

Union Wood Works (UWW) is a UAE manufacturer of composite wood blocks, the components between a pallet's deck and its base that carry its weight. Established by the M.A.H.Y. Khoory Group in 2019, UWW is built around a clear principle: wood already in circulation should be returned to productive use, rather than replaced with imported timber.

Every block begins as recovered wood, from broken pallets and used furniture to joinery offcuts. Chipped, blended with wax and pressed under heat, it becomes a dense composite block that resists moisture and cannot develop mould or fungus, the most persistent problem for wooden pallets in the Gulf climate.

From its plant at the Union Paper Mills site in Al Quoz, Dubai, UWW supplies pallet manufacturers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, combining Italian pressing technology with a recovered-wood supply secured by the Group's own collection network.

3.9

Million pallets a year

Can be built on UWW blocks at full capacity

50%

Global share

Composite blocks worldwide made on IMAL machines, the technology UWW operates

2019

Established as the UAE’s only composite wood block plant

7

Block sizes

Cut to length from 72 to 120 mm

25%

Less new timber

Needed per pallet when UWW blocks replace solid wood

Weekly

Deliveries

In smaller orders, instead of months of waiting for imported timber

An Integrated Circular Ecosystem

Behind UWW's production is an integrated M.A.H.Y. Khoory Group ecosystem, which secures its recovered wood every day. Each stage of the journey is supported by a dedicated Group company or division.

Recovered

Since 2009, the Group's Solid Waste Management Division has built a wood collection network of around 160 source points across the UAE, from carpentry workshops, manufacturers and logistics companies to ports, free zones and waste transfer stations. Green Arabia, the Group's integrated waste management solutions provider, adds the wood it collects from its own customers. In all, the division procures around 240 tonnes of recovered wood every day for UWW and Union Paper Mills.

Solid Waste Management DivisionGreen Arabia

Processed

Every delivery is weighed, inspected and segregated on arrival. On a HAAS processing line installed in 2024, the wood is shredded, cleared of nails by magnetic separation, milled and screened for size, contamination and moisture. The best of the wood, meeting the specification for block production, is processed into chips for UWW, and the remainder fuels the boilers at Union Paper Mills, the UAE's first recycled paper mill.

Solid Waste Management Division

Union Paper Mills

Manufactured

At UWW, the wood chips are blended with wax and pressed under heat into a dense composite block, formed in one of four moulds.

Each block is then cut to the length the customer's pallet design requires.

Finally, the blocks are wrapped and dispatched in weekly deliveries, ready for the pallet manufacturer's production line.

Union Wood Works

Returned

UWW blocks are built into pallets by manufacturers across the Gulf, as a regional alternative to imported timber. Within the Group, Union Sustainable Packaging Solutions, the official PalletBiz franchise in the UAE, has built them into its pallets since 2024. Once those pallets have served their purpose, their wood is recovered again.

Union Sustainable Packaging Solutions (PalletBiz UAE)

Pallet manufacturers across the Gulf

Together, these capabilities create a practical circular model: wood is recovered locally, manufactured into composite wood blocks in the UAE and returned to industry in the pallets that carry the region's trade.

Recovered in the UAE. Pressed in the UAE. Returned to industry.

Environmental Responsibility In Practice

This model supports the UAE's ambition to build a more competitive, resource-efficient and sustainable industrial economy. By converting recovered wood into a manufactured product in the UAE, UWW contributes to circularity, local value creation and reduced dependence on imported timber, in line with the Make it in the Emirates agenda.

Timber

Less felled wood imported

Pallets built on UWW blocks need less new timber than those built entirely from solid wood. Across the region's pallet industry, this reduces demand for felled wood that would otherwise have to be imported.

Pallet Life

Fewer pallets discarded early

Mould in a timber block can make an entire pallet unusable, leading to rejection and replacement. Pallets built on UWW blocks stay in service for longer, so fewer are discarded before the end of their working life.

Production Waste

No offcuts at the pallet line

Every block is delivered cut to the customer's specified length, so pallet manufacturers no longer saw timber to size. The offcuts and sawdust this would generate are eliminated at the source.

Landfill

Recovered wood kept in use

Because the Group itself is the end user of the wood it recovers, that wood does not go to landfill. Converted into a long-life industrial product, it stays in use in the UAE economy, in line with the national direction towards zero waste to landfill.

Engineered to outperform
solid timber

At UWW, recovered wood is pressed into composite wood blocks for pallets in seven sizes, each offering a clear advantage over the solid timber it replaces in the three areas that matter most to pallet manufacturers.

Free from Mould and Fungus

Recovered wood and wax, heat-pressed

In a wooden pallet, mould and fungus start in the block, and solid timber can be affected at any point in its life. UWW blocks carry no such risk, removing the quality complaint that most often returns to the pallet manufacturer.

Recovered wood block beside solid timber

A Lower Cost than Solid Timber

Priced below the timber it replaces

Solid timber is a costly input in a market where pallet manufacturers work on very low margins. UWW blocks are supplied at a lower price than the timber they replace, a saving that goes directly to the pallet manufacturer's profitability.

Delivered Ready for Assembly

Cut to length and wrapped

Solid timber arrives in lengths, and every block must be sawn to size before production begins, adding labour and time. UWW blocks arrive cut to the specified length, so production can begin as soon as an order is received.

Precision From Recovered Wood

UWW's production line is equipped to convert screened wood chips into composite blocks manufactured to precise dimensions.

Italian IMAL block machine on the production line

IMAL Block Technology

Blocks are produced on an Italian IMAL block machine, the technology on which around half of the world's composite blocks are made. It gives UWW a recognised industry standard of production, on a regional site.

Wood chips and wax pellets in the bonding machine

Wax Bonding

Wax is blended with the wood chips before pressing, binding them into a single composite. It also helps the finished block resist moisture, a constant risk for timber in the Gulf climate.

Heat Pressing

The block machine bonds the chips and wax under heat and pressure into a dense block. Together with the wax, this is what keeps a UWW block free from mould and fungus.

Four Moulds, Seven Sizes

The block machine works with four moulds, which together give the plant seven block sizes. Pallet manufacturers can choose the size that suits each pallet design.

Cutting to Length

Each block is cut to the length specified by the customer, from 72 to 120 mm. Blocks arrive ready to fit, with no further sawing at the pallet line.

Wrapping

Finished blocks are wrapped at the plant before dispatch, so each order reaches the pallet manufacturer ready for immediate use.

"Union Wood Works is a fast, reliable and quality-focused manufacturer, and the only composite block producer in the GCC with a machine of this standard. What we bring to every customer is a better product than the solid wood block: no mould or fungus, less labour, and delivery whenever it is needed."

Value Delivered To Pallet Manufacturers

UWW blocks are supplied with the commercial realities of pallet manufacturing in mind. Beyond the block itself, UWW supports how its customers purchase, plan and serve their own markets.

Control Over Raw Material

Wood chips are supplied by the Group's own Solid Waste Management Division, screened for size, contamination and moisture before they reach the block machine. Consistent blocks begin with consistent raw material.

Purchasing Aligned with Production

Imported timber commits pallet manufacturers to bulk orders and months of waiting. UWW accepts smaller orders and delivers weekly, allowing manufacturers to purchase in line with current production.

A Supplier Within the Region

Composite blocks are otherwise produced mainly in Europe, India and China, with only two small producers elsewhere in the Gulf, in Saudi Arabia. As a UAE manufacturer, UWW offers pallet manufacturers direct access to its team and a dependable regional supply chain.

A Sustainability Credential for Their Customers

Every block is manufactured from recovered wood. Pallet manufacturers can extend this credential to their own customers, many of whom have sustainability targets to meet across their supply chains.

In-House Testing

UWW operates its own testing laboratory for pressed blocks, and certified laboratory tests are being arranged, giving pallet manufacturers and their customers independent data to specify against.