Wood workshop raising cash for ‘waste-free’ fuel machine

Wednesday 02 October 2019

A local wood workshop, which offers opportunities to islanders with disabilities, is fundraising for a biofuel machine that transforms sawdust into a winter fuel in a bid to go completely waste-free.

Acorn - which comprises a wood crafting workshop, reuse centre, plant nursery and café – has launched a final fundraising push for the briquette machine, which the social enterprise says will be good for the environment, as well as good for business.

The machine compresses the sawdust into burnable ‘briquettes’, which Acorn will sell in the shop as an alternative winter fuel – cutting down on ten to 12 tonnes of waste sent to the incinerator each year in the process. 

Pictured: The machine will allow the waste from the wood workshop to be used as a winter fuel (Acorn Enterprises).

Describing the move as the charity’s “burning ambition”, the fundraising campaign is almost halfway to its £800 target, bringing them closer to their vision of a waste-free venture to raise more money and provide more training to their staff members.

Acorn Enterprises is a trading company of the Jersey Employment Trust and it gives employment, training and support for people with different disabilities and long-term health conditions.

At the time of writing, the JustGiving page has raised almost half of their £800 target to supplement two grants for the machine.

Buying this briquette machine, Acorn says, will reduce waste, provide more specialist training and increase the business’s income by selling the fuel.

Pictured: It's planned that the sawdust briquettes will be sold alongside their current firewood selection (Acorn Enterprises).

An Acorn spokesperson said: “Each area of Acorn Enterprises plays its part in working towards these three goals. A place for our clients to work together and develop core skills, the Woodshack has always been focussed on upcycling timber and the opening of Acorn Reuse has helped the facility to really grow. There is something really special about seeing old goods and broken items go from unwanted material to brilliant new pieces of furniture. These projects are great for our clients to be involved in.” 

Without the machine, currently the enterprise is 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.

“All our woodworking machines are attached to an extraction system, which removes all the sawdust from the machines into a large bin, we currently bag this sawdust and have to deliver it to the incinerator, which is not ideal as once tipped it creates a lot of airborne dust.

Pictured: Currently, Acorn send between 10 and 12 tonnes of sawdust to be incinerated (Acorn Enterprises).

“At the moment we send 10 to 12 tonne-bags of sawdust to the incinerator every year. Having a briquette machine will create a meaningful job for our clients, as collecting a waste product and creating something useful from it, they will see a positive result from their work. We definitely think things will become more efficient, as clearing up will become a more important part of the running of the Woodshack.” 

The shop currently sells firewood in the shop which is recycled wood from the workshop and the briquettes will be bagged and sold alongside these products.

In terms of the environmental benefits, Acorn told Express: “We are always looking into new sustainable solutions and discussing how we might be able to incorporate these in to the running of things, when the briquette machine came up, we just knew it was perfect for the Woodshack and so started fundraising straight away.

"Jersey is a great place for environmental initiatives and we really feel we have lots of support from the public.”