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Burning question over dead wood

City's disposal practices in 'dark ages'

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 03/20/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

Grant Kergen of Groundworx says his slow-speed shredder could grind Winnipeg's diseased wood into material that could be composted or used as fuel.

An Alberta machine distributor has an axe to grind with the City of Winnipeg over 3,000 tonnes of tree limbs and trunks slated to be burned or buried in the Brady Road Landfill.

Over the course of a normal year, the city destroys about 4,000 tonnes of waste wood, most of it infested elm, as a result of ongoing Dutch elm disease-control and tree-pruning efforts.

In an effort to whittle down this figure, the city started a pilot project that saw some of the downed trees delivered to Wood Anchor, a Winnipeg wood-reclamation company that converts waste trees into flooring and other products. Even fungus-infested wood can be reclaimed by slicing interior pieces thin enough to be dried out in kilns.

Tree trunks or limbs that aren't large enough to slice into lumber must be ground up into three-centimetre cubes in order to dry out the wood and prevent the disease from spreading.

But no grinder exists in Winnipeg to handle the job, given the difficulty of chewing up twisted pieces of very hard elm. Most of the waste delivered to Wood Anchor -- somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 tonnes -- is slated to be buried or burned by June 1 to prevent elm bark beetles from using the wood as a breeding habitat.

"We need to get this material dealt with immediately," said city forester Martha Barwinsky, citing provincial regulations governing Dutch elm disease. "This is a situation we have to act on right away."

But an Edmonton-based distributor of shredding, grinding and crushing machines believes none of the diseased elm needs to wind up in the landfill.

On Friday, The Groundworx Co. brought a German-manufactured Doppstadt shredding machine to Wood Anchor to demonstrate dry, hard elm can indeed be broken down. But the resulting wood shreds still need to be ground up further by a conventional grinder.

While ordinary grinders work too quickly to handle waste elm, shredders do the trick by working more slowly but with more power, said Grant Kergen, owner and sales manager for Groundworx.

The catch is the machine costs $650,000 -- and there's no money in the city budget to grind up waste wood, let alone purchase or lease equipment for this purpose.

Right now, Winnipeg's arrangement with Wood Anchor doesn't cost the city a penny, said Barwinsky, who planned to view a demonstration of the shredder on Friday. The pilot project saves the city a few dollars, in terms of reduced tipping fees at Brady Road, she said.

Kergen said he is surprised Winnipeg has no means to deal with waste wood other than burying it or burning it, claiming other Canadian cities turn it into compost or use it as fuel for furnaces.

"What kind of dark ages does this city live in?" Kergen asked. "The city is thinking of the cheapest option. Nobody is trying to come up with a long-term solution. Burning wood is just archaic."

Kergen said he spent about $12,000 to bring his shredder to Winnipeg for a demonstration. But he denied that's why he is upset with the city.

"Don't buy my machine. I don't care," he said. "Just solve your problem."

Along with elm, the city's waste wood includes disease-free ash and poplar.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 20, 2010 B1

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