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What is particleboard?
The wood pieces used to make particleboard may be hardwoods or softwoods and are larger than those used to make MDF, another type of fiberboard.
Particleboard is cheaper and denser than solid wood, and is often used for indoor products in which appearance and durability are not key requirements. Surfaces that will be visible are often painted or covered with wood veneers, if appearance is of concern.
Because particleboard is made almost entirely of recycled materials, it is often marketed as an eco-friendly wood option. However, the resins used to glue the wood particles together are neither eco-friendly nor safe. The most common resins are all formaldehyde-based. Rates of emissions for urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins are much higher than those for phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins.
Safer resins and more eco-friendly fiber options are increasingly being used by manufacturers, including straw and post-consumer paper fibers and natural lignin resins.
For more information, see the Green Guide Article: "How Hazardous is Particleboard?", the UMN Publication "Indoor Air Pollution: An Evaluation of Three Agents", the Global Health & Safety Initiative Fact Sheet: Alternative Resin Binders for Particleboard, MDF & Wheatboard, and Green Seal's Choose Green Report: "Particleboard and Medium-Density Fiberboard".
