Paper mills produce large amounts of leftover material alongside the paper and packaging products they sell. At DS Smith’s mill in Riceboro, Georgia, that included wood ash from the heat system used to power the mill.
DS Smith and Wakefield BioChar partnered to give that material a productive destination. The project moved wood ash away from disposal and into a managed process for creating soil inputs for growers.1
A useful destination for paper mill wood ash
Wood ash contains minerals taken up by trees during growth, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron. Those minerals can still have value after the wood has been used to produce paper and energy.
The goal was not simply to move the material somewhere else. DS Smith wanted to return it to the land through a useful product. Wakefield connected the mill’s wood ash with farm markets that could put the material to work.
Wakefield managed the path from mill to market
A reuse program has to manage more than material pickup. The wood ash must be identified, tested, moved, prepared for its intended use, and handled under the required permits and rules.
Wakefield took over those steps after the wood ash left the DS Smith mill. The material went to a nearby site, where it was tested and blended with added nutrients when needed. Wakefield also managed licensing and sales.1
This gave each company a clear role. DS Smith supplied a steady stream of wood ash from the mill. Wakefield provided the testing, transport, product knowledge, and connections with growers needed to turn that material into a usable soil input.
More than 150 tons moved into productive use
By the time the partnership was announced in January 2021, DS Smith had sent more than 150 tons of wood ash to Wakefield.1 That early volume showed that the project had moved beyond an idea and become a working reuse program.
The partnership also addressed a common challenge for mills and factories. A leftover material may have useful properties, but its value depends on the systems and partners needed to move it from the mill to a suitable market.
A practical model for beneficial reuse
The DS Smith project shows how reuse can connect a mill with soil markets. Material that once required disposal became part of a managed supply chain serving growers.
For the mill, the partnership created another destination for a high-volume residual. For Wakefield, it supplied material that could be tested and prepared for use in soil products. For growers, it returned useful minerals from trees to the land.
That circular path is the central value of the project. DS Smith supplied the material, and Wakefield built the bridge between the paper mill and its next useful purpose.
Manufacturers looking for new uses for their own leftover materials can learn more about Wakefield BioChar’s beneficial-reuse services.
Sources
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DS Smith Partnership to Use Mill Waste as Soil Replenishment for Farmers Recycling Product News 2021. Contemporaneous report of the partnership announcement. It documents the Riceboro mill, Wakefield’s testing, licensing, transportation, preparation, and sales roles, and more than 150 tons of wood ash diverted at the time of publication. View Source ↩
