Jersey’s social enterprise and training provider Acorn no longer generate any waste at their wood recycling workshop, thanks to the purchase of a briquette machine and a wood burner.
Acorn Woodshack, which provides training and employment for people with a disability or long-term health condition, upcycles wood which is sold as wooden furniture and gifts.
It produces around 12 tonnes of sawdust a year which was being taken to the Energy from Waste plant at La Collette to be burnt alongside household waste. The new machine will turn the sawdust into fuel briquettes, which can be sold as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Last autumn Acorn Woodshack announced their ‘burning ambition’ to go zero waste and they are delighted to have achieved it, thanks to sponsorship from EMR and the Channel Islands Co-op Eco Fund, as well as support from members of the public.
John Hill, the Woodshack Manager, said: “Our main remit is working with people with a disability and long-term health condition, but we also recycle 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.”
Acorn have also come up with another way to make use of the waste produced in the Woodshack by using some funding from the Roy Overland Charitable Trust to buy a wood burning furnace.
“The wood burner generates heat from burning offcuts of wood which would otherwise be thrown away – and it can take the briquettes as well,” explained John. “It has turned a very cold workshop into a warm and toasty one.”
Briquettes will be sold in bags at the Acorn Reuse Centre alongside logs and kindling with the money raised going back into providing work experience and training for people with a disability or long-term health condition.
