RFID chips used to tag trees by timber companies now made of wood

Did you know the trees that are felled for production of wooden products are tagged? Well, it might seem surprising, but trees are embedded with RFID tags that helps logging companies keep a track on the destination and origin of timber being felled and transported. This also prevents illegal logging and butchering of forests. That’s just fine and innovative indeed, though the tags used currently tend to add impurities to high-quality wood pulp products and lumber during production, unless they are expertly removed, which involves expensive procedures. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have had a brainwave, and have come up with RFID tags made of wood! The metal used in the chip’s antenna is negotiable while the rest of the chip is composed of wood and lignin.

These chips have the memory of a goldfish though, and can’t really hold a lot of information. They carry enough data for RFID tag readers to recognize their ID numbers. Indeed a clever way to keep the green from decreasing!
[Popsci]