Over 100 pertinent reports and publications were reviewed on the utilization of bark residues for energy and value-added products. Approximately 10 million bone-dry tonnes of bark residues are produced annually as a by-product from the Canadian forestry industry. Environmental agencies are invoking stricter regulations with regard to landfill disposal and phasing out the use of beehive burners. Hence there is an urgency to find alternative uses for bark residues. Although the use of bark residues in energy systems represents an attractive way to dispose of large quantities, these energy options are curtailed by low gas and electricity prices. A potential short term solution to dispose of large quantities of bark residues is to make the bark non-leachable by a practical method followed by disposal in landfills that accept non-leachable residues. However, this would only be possible in certain areas of the country. A new technology developed by Simco/Ramic Inc. shows good potential to sort out "white wood" from bark residues allowing a higher value-added application for the separated "white wood" such as in MDF. Bark has unique properties compared to wood in that it has a much higher inorganic and polyphenolic content. This facilitates the use of bark for higher-value products albeit these products consume much smaller quantities of bark compared to energy uses. Bark has been found to be an excellent material for agricultural and landscaping uses and has been utilized in this area for many years. Over the years, it has also been utilized as an adhesive filler for plywood glues. Much research has been conducted on other uses for bark and these include oil pollution control agents, adhesives, particleboard additives, frost-insulation materials, biofilter media and an oil drilling mud additive. Because of its unique adhesive properties, a future value-added product could be bark board made without synthetic adhesives. In particular, because of bark board's excellent durability properties, an overlaid bark board could have good market potential for exterior products such as siding. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted in the high-temperature bark board pressing process could be passed through a biofilter using bark as a medium.