Sawmill cleans up

By Melissa Donchi
IT IS an image synonymous with sawmills: thick clouds of black smoke billowing out of industrial chimneys. But at the Reid Bros sawmill in Yarra Junction, the air above the chimney is clear.
Thanks to a new and efficient boiler for burning waste, employees at Reid Bros are breathing in a different kind of air and winning a bevy of industry awards along the way.
The $400,000 Kolbach fluid steam boiler means the 84-year-old company is no longer burning fossil fuels and has drastically reduced emissions into the atmosphere, according to managing director Rowan Reid.
“Because we were burning LPG and now we have stopped, we are not burning fossil fuels, we are not putting sawdust in landfill and getting waste from other areas (to burn) means we are getting carbon credits,” Mr Reid said.
Mr Reid was a butcher when he joined the family business 18 years ago after deciding to chop wood instead of meat. Six months ago, when his father retired, he became managing director of the business, representing the fourth generation of the family to take the reins.
In 2001 Reid Bros received an award by the Australian Timber Industry Certification (ATIC) for producing the highest quality product in the state. In 2006, they took out two more awards from the national industry body, the 2006 Quality Award and the 2006 Environmental Sustainability Award.