FORESTRY AWARD 2021
The team from OneFortyOne Kaituna Sawmill with George Shallcrass (Marlborough Forest Industry Association, fourth from left)
ONEFORTYONE KAITUNA SAWMILL
Winner: Forestry Award
Sponsored by Marlborough Forest Industry Assn
The OneFortyOne Kaituna Sawmill near Renwick processes pruned logs into high quality timber for domestic and export markets. All of their wood is sourced from sustainable forests, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Kaituna Sawmill is leading the way with measuring and managing its carbon footprint. A key step was to integrate a carbon calculator into the business 10 years ago to gauge emissions across the different parts of the milling process.
Acting on this information they got rid of an inefficient kiln that was fuelled by waste oil… and invested in an $8-million Biomass Energy Centre and drying system that runs on wet sawdust and shavings. The upshot of the new technology is less waste, a $500,000 saving in fuel costs and a 46% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Most of New Zealand’s logs are exported with little onshore processing. Kaituna sawmill is a notable exception - adding value while helping tackle climate change.