MRRA Attendees Hear the Lowdown on Wood

Wood fuel derived from demolition scrap should continue to find a home in New England if the Boralex subsidiary of Cascades, Kingsey Falls, Quebec, Canada, has anything to say about it.

Eric Dumont of Boralex told attendees of the Maine Recycling & Solid Waste Conference, held in early April in Rockport, that its biomass plants that are approved to burn clean demolition wood may consume up to 450,000 tons per year of the product.

Boralex owns eight biomass plants, five of which are in Maine, one in New York state and two in Quebec. Three of the Maine plants are currently operational, although they are not all approved to burn demolition wood, relying instead on clean, forested wood chips. But, “I don’t believe we could afford to run all three of these plants without the C&D wood," Dumont told attendees, some of whom ship their recycled wood to Boralex.

Dumont announced that the company is building a rail spur at its Livermore Falls, Maine, location, a power generating plant that consumes some 350,000 tpy of wood. “This is very important to us, as we have to go further and further away from the plant to get the material we need,” says Dumont.

Dumont also stressed to attendees that high quality, clean shipments will be necessary for Boralex to maintain and grow its ability to consume processed demolition wood. State agencies have asked the company to maintain “zero tolerance” for wood treated with creosote and CCA in particular, he noted.

Peter Russell of wood recycling company P.R. Russell Inc., in Richmond, Maine, described his company’s ability to make boiler fuel, certified playground chips, organic compost, mulches and fertilizer.

The company serves as a contract grinder to companies and municipalities to produce many of its products.