Ingenious engineers at Interfloor’s Gripperrods factory in Dumfries have come up with an environmentally friendly way of dealing with their sawdust waste.
The factory, which produces Gripperrods’ market leading Tackfast and Golden Gripper products, generates tonnes of sawdust waste per year which the company pays to have removed and processed into a biofuel for use at a local power station.
The Gripperrods engineers looked for a method of waste disposal that would reduce cost but also be consistent with Interfloor’s environmental policy. Their solution has been to compress the sawdust into briquettes. These briquettes are 80mm x 55mm and the Gripperrods factory is capable of producing up to 4 tonnes per week.
The briquettes are sold to local homes with wood burners or open fires and through solid fuel wholesalers. Steve Paget, Gripperrods’ Manufacturing Manager in Dumfries, says, “This has been a major breakthrough for us. Re-processing our waste in this way gives us a significant saving and has created an environmentally friendly solution for local people.”
