ESL® and ESB® are viable alternatives to woodchipping, with “triple-bottom line” benefits:
- ECONOMIC: ESL® and ESB® products will return as much as AUD2,000tonne &mdash up to ten times that of wood-chipping, pulpwood currently being the main end use of Blue Gum wood fibre.
- SOCIAL: Providing sustainable long-term employment in excess of the wood-chipping industry as further industries can develop from Lignor’s products eg. I-Beams and Structural Integrated Panels (SIPs)
- ENVIRONMENTAL: Apart from the environmental benefits of the products and using the sustainable resource, about 70% of the log and bark is utilised when converted to ESL® and ESB®. The remaining waste matter is used to produce heat in the manufacturing process and provides about 60% of Lignor’s energy requirements, reducing Lignor’s requirement for fossil fuels. This higher log conversion compares to only around 50% log conversion for LVL and other engineered timber products and even lower conversion for some native hardwoods whose conversion can be as low as 33%.