Page 447 - Week 01 - Thursday, 16 February 2012
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(2) Have any of the proposals for potential products outlined in the Report on the sustainable re-use of timber from felled urban trees in the ACT by Ian McArthur, available on the Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment website, been taken up; if so, which ones.
(3) Have any of the recommendations of the report referred to in part (2) been taken up; if so which ones.
Ms Gallagher: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
1. Currently, by-product from tree maintenance operations is either chipped on site and used as mulch in the urban landscape or transferred as logs to one of the two wood storage locations in Curtin or Mitchell to be processed into mulch at a later stage. Mulch is also made available to ACT Government schools, the Stromlo Forest Park and the Government’s tree planting contractors for mulching newly planted trees. Some of the stored logs have been made available on an ad-hoc arrangement to schools, the Integrated Urban Waterways project, the National Zoo and Aquarium and ACT Equestrian Association for horse jumps in Equestrian Park.
2. Mr McArthur’s report identifies a list of potential products from urban tree management operations. The following is a summary of actions against the potential products identified by Mr McArthur.
Sawlogs
The majority of log by-product generated by urban tree management operations is unsuitable for sawlogs, so this option has not been explored.
Posts
Only a very small number of logs suitable for posts are generated by urban tree management operations, so this option has not been explored.
Specialty products
Some of the wood by-product generated by urban tree management operations is suitable for specialty markets although market interest is very small, so this option is being considered. Currently, this type of wood is made available to schools and other users upon request.
Firewood
The Territory and Municipal Services Directorate has had preliminary discussions with the local market regarding the use of urban tree management operations by-product as firewood. Indications are that the local firewood market has specific requirements and that there may be little or no interest in accessing by-product generated by urban tree management operations for sale locally as firewood. A procurement process that will seek offers from the local market for the disposal of solid wood by-product is currently being developed. Fire wood cannot be on-sold unless it is 90% cured, so strict conditions relating to the sale of this by-product will be imposed in the procurement process.
Bio-energy
Discussions are continuing with the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate regarding the long term viability of utilising by product from urban tree management operations for the generation of bio-energy. No timeframes for trials of bio-energy technology have been set at this stage.
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