As wood products, paper and cardboard contain the stored energy of the sun – which is of course the ultimate renewable energy source.
At a time when households and businesses are looking for economical alternatives to gas and electricity, pellets made on site from crushed cardboard offer a cheap means of heating a stove.
Higher gas and electricity bills look inevitable as fossil fuel energy sources become ever more expensive, a result of the shortfalls in energy supplies highlighted by energy regulator Ofgem in a report last week.
SolarUK, the leading designer and manufacturer of solar hot water systems, is using a cardboard pulp squeezer at its Northiam factory to produce fuel to keep staff warm as the autumn days become cooler.
The squeezer is essentially a very simple tool. Shredded cardboard and paper as well as some woodchips are added to a dustbin half filled with water – just enough material to soak up the water. The bin is then left for an hour before stirring. Up to a day later the contents are stirred again before being put into the chamber of the squeezer. A motor is turned on, driving the piston that squashes the paper into pellets. The finished pellets are then left to dry.
It’s as straightforward as that: a good-sized dustbin and a shredder for the cardboard and paper are the only additional equipment needed.
Finding that there was no easy way to recycle cardboard in the Hastings area, SolarUK is using this very handy machine to turn waste, potentially destined for landfill, into a clean-burning, low carbon fuel.
