this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2026
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I mean... It makes sense to use saw dust somehow. It's there as a byproduct, and it makes sense to use byproducts as much as possible. But I feel like there's ways we could use saw dust better than burning it. Technically you could call it carbon neutral to burn it thanks to iffy definitions. But you could make it a carbon sink, somehow. It's way past my bedtime atm, so excuse me if alternatives might sound stupid but here we go.
in compost/soil mixture. It holds water better than a lot of materials, as a mix, you might even be able to grow something in soil that would normally be considered too sandy/dry.
a mixture in plastics, so as not to use as much plastic, and although I'm sure there would be side effects, but it could be perfect for a few specific uses.
swamp/mangrove protection. Ok by now I'm pulling this out of my ass. Like I said, it's far past my bedtime. But with loose soil, I feel like mixing in some saw dust would act as a binder, and slow erosion.
So I'm not a scientist or anything, but there has to be a better use of saw dust than fucking binding it and burning it. On one level, at least they're using it... I guess? But even being landfill, at least it would be a carbon sink, even if just a minor one.
The problem is that you can't supply power plants at any scale using waste sawdust. They clearcut to make pellets to feed the power plants
Oh shit, that's way worse! I thought they were using recycled saw dust! WTF?!? How could anyone think that's a good idea?!?
I'm a woodworker. I have a small hobby shop on the back of my property, looks like a garden shed from the outside, I produce 8 or 10 barrels of sawdust a year. That's probably enough to heat my house through the winter. It all goes to the dump. Here's why:
There's nobody who wants to work with me. There are places that make fuel pellets at industrial scale in my area, they want nothing to do with a guy bringing them 2 or 3 rubbermaid trash cans full of sawdust a few times a year, they want regularly scheduled semi truck delivery. There are farmers that have more modest sized hammer mills and extruders necessary for the job, but they don't want to take the time to run a tool for some guy. I could buy the tools myself, for several times what it cost to heat my house with gas for a year.
So who produces sawdust or other fine wood chips at industrial scale? Sawmills, but they often use their own sawdust to make particle board. Furniture factories maybe? The few remaining that don't mostly use particle board?
Edit to add: There is a source of kinda free wood matter: Branches. The structural or furniture lumber industries don't use limb wood; it's too unstable. Trunks grow roughly parallel to gravity, branches grow more or less perpendicular, so they have a tendency to warp when milled, plus they're smaller and just not worth trying to saw into boards. So they tend to get ground up for wood chips or paper pulp or whatever would be convenient to the business.
The basic answer is that when the power plant is far from the clearcuts, they can pretend it's being fed using waste sawdust. Been a big issue with the UK importing from North America.
Wow, that is depressing.
isn't it used in the compressed wood stuff?