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The Ernslaw One Gisborne team has been trialing an innovative way to reduce the amount of woody debris from their forest operations: by shredding it and repurposing it into roading material.

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Managing woody debris arising from log processing skids and during the harvesting and derisking cutover areas is a major focus for Ernslaw One. They are constantly investing in processes and innovation to improve and de-risk their forest operations. The concept of shredding woody debris and using it as roading material in forest, initiated by Pan Pac and supported by Forest Grower’s Research, appealed to Ernslaw One instantly.

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Tane Purcell, Harves Engineer Supervisor who has been overseeing the trial of the shredding process says it is delivering promising results for reducing the amount of forestry waste, reducing environmental risk, safer working areas and a more cost-effective roading material

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“During our initial trial, we had a shredder stationed on five different sites, across Moonlight and Mata Forests on skids where the crews had just completed harvest. It processed offcuts, branches and unmerchantable logs up to six meters long, and to date, we’ve shredded around 10,000m³”. Tane said.

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Shredding the waste and using it as roading material gives it a valuable end use. It is also beneficial from a safety and cost perspective as the materials that usually go into roads in this area generally have to be trucked a long way into the forest on narrow rural roads.

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In Mata Forest, the shredder at one stage was set up on an active skid, where it shredded wood processing waste, freeing up space for the crew. The roading crew then picked it up the next day and applied it to the road, increasing space which boosts production and increases safety on the skid by removing the hazard created by a build-up of wood waste.

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The shredder has since returned to Moonlight, processing another 6000m3 ready for winter. It will then head to Mata again to shred more wood, just less cube.

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