In this issue: NTPSG Tours Renewable Energy Plant in SE Queensland Wood Recycling Facility Going Gangbusters in WA Recycling Power Poles and Bridge Timber in NSW Wood Recovery up 12% Timber Product Stewardship in Action - D&R Henderson What if We Can’t Recycle? Submission to Department of Climate Change RE: Inaccurate Figures for Wood in Landfill

NTPSG Tours Renewable Energy Plant in SE Queensland Sunday, 01 March 2009 10:00 Members of the NTPSG toured the Rocky Point Green Power Station located an hour south of Brisbane before their last meeting. Rocky Point uses 40,000 tonnes per year of post-consumer timber offcuts, pallets, crates, formwork and sawmill residues to produce electricity. Emissions from the plant, which also uses sugar cane harvesting residue (in season) and garden residue collected by local councils, are regarded as close to carbon neutral. Supply Manager Pat Keough cites the low degree of contamination and the clean burning of the post-consumer timber as reasons it is the preferred fuel for the plant.   Wood Recycling Facility Going Gangbusters in WA Sunday, 01 March 2009 10:00 The Hazelmere Wood Recycling Centre in Perth which opened in 2008 is going from strength to strength. The facility, operated by the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC), supplies Laminex Group with recycled wood chip sourced for incorporation into new particleboard. They have also started supplying local poultry farms with recycled chip after a successful trial with the WA Broilers Association and produce a high-value coloured mulch. Since opening they have recycled over 8,000 tonnes of industrial wood residue. Hazelmere have a great website and have recently uploaded a video of the recycling process to it: watch the Hazelmere recycling video   Recycling Power Poles and Bridge Timber in NSW Sunday, 01 March 2009 10:00 A set of practices has been developed to assist asset managers recover more timber, including preservative treated timber, for recycling end-of-life power poles and bridge timbers. The protocols were developed in consultation with Integral Energy, NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, Koppers Wood Products as well as demolishers and recyclers in NSW. Funding for developing the Protocols was provided by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change. Read the Protocols for Recycling Redundant Utility Poles and Bridge Timbers in New South Wales (PDF, 0.9MB) Two case studies on companies that use the Protocol are currently being prepared.   Wood Recovery up 12% Sunday, 01 March 2009 10:00 National figures have shown that recovery of post-consumer wood products have increased by 12% to over 530,000 tonnes in 2007-2008. There have been particular increases in recovery in NSW/ACT, Queensland and WA over the period. While increase from SA and Victoria decreased slightly from high bases. For more information, read the media release: 12% Increase in Post-consumer Wood Recovery   Product Stewardship in Action - D&R Henderson Sunday, 01 March 2009 10:00 D&R Henderson D&R Henderson now offers a limited product stewardship service to their customers. Manufacturing particleboard at Benalla in Victoria, they operate a recycling facility at Coolaroo in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne. Acceptable products for recycling include offcuts of D&R Henderson raw particleboard products and decorative (Low Pressure Melamine) particleboard products. Also accepted is clean uncontaminated end-of-life wood pallets and crates. More information at Henderson Product Stewardship.   What if We Can’t Recycle? Sunday, 01 March 2009 10:00 Product Stewardship is a shared responsibility. For those timber and wood product companies and associations who can’t recycle post-consumer wood or take back their own product themselves but want to participate in product stewardship how about providing a link on your website to those who can? The www.timberstewardship.org.au website includes a Reuse, Recycling and Renewable Energy Directory with over 120 businesses across Australia that reuse, recycle or use post-consumer wood to generate renewable energy. Contact the NTPSG Project Manager Stephen Mitchell on 02 9279 2366.   Submission to Department of Climate Change RE: Inaccurate Figures for Wood in Landfill Sunday, 01 March 2009 10:00 NTPSG members A3P, NAFI and TDANSW recently made a joint submission to the Department of Climate Change to request that the default figures cited in a number of their documents reflect the latest research by the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting and the NSW Department of Primary Industries. The default figures significantly overestimate the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from wood in landfills. With the waste sector to be included in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme from the start date in 2010, these incorrect default figures are starting to have a distorting effect on policy and financial decision-making. This may result in increased greenhouse emissions – not less! Read the Submission on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Measurement) Determination 2008 (PDF, 0.2MB)