Sustainability - Chessgrove Woodchip

Sustainability at heart

Chessgrove Woodchip is an environmentally sustainable business located in Hanbury, Worcestershire. The business has three core activities:

Contract wood chipping to produce biomass for local businesses
Sales of wood chip for gardens, landscaping, chicken runs, equestrian surfaces, festivals
Providing biomass wood chip to Chessgrove Park companies as part of an overall sustainability strategy.

The wood chip we produce for biomass comes only from sustainable and appropriate local sources, and only where the wood cannot easily be used for other purposes. Sources include brash, arboricultural waste and tree surgery arisings.

For wood chip sales we only use hardwood and softwood from local sources, and we ensure the end product does not contain contaminates.

The vehicles and machinery are modern and well serviced, ensuring a reliable and efficient service to our stakeholders.

Our wood chip business forms a key part of the overall sustainability strategy for the Chessgrove Park companies, providing the energy that drives them in efficient and carbon neutral manner.

A continued investment in biomass

In the last 5 years Chessgrove have invested over £1 million in an efficient, comprehensive biomass system to fuel our operations, including the supply of heating and warm water. Burning biomass is as near to carbon-neutral as any energy source, with flammable plant matter being burned to release energy in the form of heat and power.

Biomass is an especially attractive fuel source because huge amounts of it are generated inadvertently through industrial and agricultural production. Harnessing this waste material and extracting more energy from it improves all-around efficiency and reduces the ecological impact mankind has on the environment.

Chessgrove only uses arboricultural waste wood and employs an in-house team to source wood that cannot be used for other purposes.

A commitment to solar power

We further extended our commitment to the environment by introducing solar power with an investment of over £300k. Panels were fitted to generate on average 2400kw/hr per week proving all the businesses electricity and returning surplus to the grid.