to read the full report - Ecolateral by Peter Jones

Evaluation of Opportunities for Converting Indigenous UK Wastes to Wastes and Energy
AEA/ED45551/Issue 1
It should be noted though that this figure ignores environmental constraints such as long-term site
sustainability, and physical and economic constraints such as cost of harvesting and extracting this
material from the forest.
Making several assumptions on market availability allows the availability of arboricultural arisings to be
calculated, without serious disruption of existing wood using industries. 100
Assumptions on available arisings:
• 10% of the small round-wood
• 100% of poor quality stem-wood, stem tips and branches
• 10% of sawmill product
• On average, 70% of arboricultural arisings
• 100% of material from clearance of utilities and roadside maintenance
The total potential operationally available forestry residue quantity in Great Britain, in the absence of
competing markets, is 3.12 million odt per annum. The main material is small round-wood, followed by
sawmill co-product (potential to contribute around 1.03 and 0.86 million odt per annum respectively), with
arboricultural arisings providing about 14% of the total. Approximately equal quantities are available in
England and Scotland but the composition is substantially different. Arboricultural arisings form the major
element in England though sawmill co-product, small round-wood, and branches are all significant
components. In Scotland and Wales, small round-wood and sawmill co-products are the dominant
resources with all other resource streams playing only a minor part at the moment. It may be argued that
small round-wood is in fact a product and not a residue, however it has been considered that 10% of
small round-wood may be available for use without serious disruption to existing wood using industries,
hence it is included within the arisings data. 100
Table 31 Current potential operationally available forestry residue resources by region, taking into account
competing markets
Total Forests
and Woodlands
(odt pa)
Arboricultural
arising
(odt pa)
Region
Sawmill Coproduct
(odt pa)
East Midlands 39,940 7,664 50,636 98
East of England 45,123 24,577 37,357 107
North East 21,689 50,615 11,133 83
North West 53,678 37,899 25,979 118
South East 50,888 22,191 119,160 192
South West 77,911 27,204 27,012 132
West Midlands
Yorkshire and
23,102 100,460 7,115 131
Humberside 35,654 18,969 23,814 78
England - Total 347,985 289,579 301,933 939
Scotland 302,392 403,538 12,448 718
Wales 157,707 165,783 6,841 330
Great Britain - Total 1,987
Total
(‘000 odt pa)
Future Arisings
Information presented here is an approximation of all British forests and woodlands. There is great
uncertainty about the future climate and the response of forests to that climate. 106 This applies to both
direct effects (e.g. in the absence of nutrient and water limitations, growth is expected to increase due to
106 Forestry Commission, 2002, National Inventory of Woodland and Trees http://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/pdf/niengland.pdf/$FILE/niengland.pdf
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