TURNING WASTE INTO VALUE
CIRCULARITY AT ONEFORTYONE’S GLENCOE NURSERY
The sprinklers at the OneFortyOne Glencoe nursery will soon be using the repurposed water from the timber drying kilns.
Image: supplied OneFortyOne
OneFortyOne is pleased to share a new video, showcasing how the redeveloped Glencoe Nursery is repurposing waste products to protect precious resources. The Glencoe Nursery is a crucial link in the supply chain for growers across the Green Triangle.
Officially opened in April 2024 by the Hon. Clare Scriven, South Australian Minister for Forest Industries, OneFortyOne’s $8million investment in the redevelopment enables production of an additional 4 million seedlings each season, while reducing water and chemical usage.
This significant private investment underscores OneFortyOne’s commitment to a sustainable future for the region’s thriving forestry sector – and the thousands of jobs it supports.
The team at Glencoe have focussed on circular practices, repurposing waste products from across the industry as valuable materials to raise the next generation of trees. The Nursery’s growing medium is made from waste bark recovered from OneFortyOne’s Jubilee Sawmill in Mount Gambier, transformed into a valuable product by local business Van Schaik’s Bio Gro.
Belinda Williamson, the Environmental Engineer for wood products shared that finding ways to find waste and work out a new way to utilise it, is one of the joys of her job.
“…we dry our timber at the sawmill and when the timber is dried then there’s a certain amount of moisture or water comes out of the timber and it’s quite a low PH product. The nursery gets water out of the ground to use on their seedlings, that water is a higher PH than they need… so the idea was put that we could use some of our water, which is a lower PH water, in the nursery.”
The team is now trialling the use of nutrient-rich wastewater from the sawmill’s Continuous Drying Kilns to irrigate and fertilise seedlings. Early indicators suggest the water’s natural acidity could be ideal for pine seedlings, potentially reducing the need for water additives at the Nursery.
The staff at OneFortyOne are passionate about making use of every part of the product and all the byproducts. It is not only a smart business move but also carries great benefits for the environment.
OneFortyOne has created a short video to showcase more about these key circularity initiatives and their contribution to reducing the Nursery’s environmental impact: Turning Waste into Value: Circularity at the Glencoe Nursery – OneFortyOne. To find out more and watch the video, click here.
MAIN PIC: The recently redeveloped OneFortyOne nursery in Glencoe now produces an additional 4 million seedlings per season. Image: supplied OneFortyOne
