Fuel machine zeros out wood shack waste

Wednesday 29 January 2020

A social enterprise has cut out around 12 tonnes of waste a year by installing a machine that transforms sawdust into bricks of bio-fuel.

Upcycling centre Acorn Woodshack, which provides training and employment for people with a disability or long-term health condition, has now become waste-free after purchasing a bio-fuel machine and wood burner.

Last year, Acorn - which is a trading company of the Jersey Employment Trust - announced their “burning ambition” to go zero-waste as they launched a crowd-funding campaign to buy the contraption which transforms sawdust into burnable briquettes. 

Pictured: The briquettes will be packaged up and sold as a fossil fuel alternative (Acorn Enterprises).

These eco-bricks are going on sale at Acorn as an alternative to fossil fuel – with all the proceeds going back into providing training and employment opportunities. The briquettes will be packaged up alongside Acorn's recycled wood kindling and fire logs.

The enterprise bought the machine thanks to a hugely successful JustGiving page which raised £1000 more than their original £800 target as well as receiving sponsorship from EMR and the Co-Op.

Before having the machine, the workshop was very conscious of the amount of sawdust the wood workshop is producing and hopes that the new piece of equipment will help to make things more “efficient” – both environmentally and for the employees.

Pictured: Woodshack Manager John Hill is welcoming anything that will put the waste sawdust to good use (Acorn Enterprises).

Woodshack Manager John Hill explained that the Acorn team recycles "as much timber and waste wood as possible, usually around 150 tonnes a year". 

“Working with that amount of wood naturally produces a large amount of waste and we had to bag it up and drive down to La Collette ourselves,” he added.

In another move to cut down as much waste as possible, the shack has also bought a wood burner which can warm up the workshop whilst using up offcuts that would otherwise be thrown away. 

Pictured: John from Acorn and Emily Smith from sponsors Co-Op with the sawdust briquettes (Jersey Employment Trust).

John added: “The wood burner generates heat from burning offcuts of wood which would otherwise be thrown away – and it can take the briquettes as well. It has turned a very cold workshop into a warm and toasty one!”