Idea for a Wood Storage Management Center (WSMC) - Version 1.3
This idea presupposes that the creation of an area dedicated to the management and storage of wood and woody parts is to be considered strategic and intelligent as it allows to obtain a considerable amount of resources by acting on some processes that are improved and optimised. The resources obtained are wood of different types and thicknesses, and it can then be used both for the production of electricity and for the production of paper and cardboard, as well as possibly also pellets for stoves. The presence of these centers should be more or less calculated on the basis of the cultivated area but also on the number of inhabitants per square kilometre.
The idea is to create a center for wood management. This center has the function of:
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Collect and manage all wood clippings and prunings (any type of pruning, including agricultural ones). In this case, in addition to having an area dedicated to the delivery of bins for cuttings and branches, it also has vehicles that are used to collect the cut (pruned) branches in the farmers' rows, in order to also be able to enhance that type of timber, which is often also a hindrance for the farmers who produce it during the pruning phase, as it remains on the ground between the rows. At the moment farmers need to annually cut the branches of the rows of fruit trees, therefore since this process takes place and a large quantity of wood is produced, it is worth trying to valorise it, harvesting it with special machinery which at that stage can possibly already proceed to an initial cutting and storage phase.
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In addition to this, when rows of fruit trees are at the end of their life, farmers often find themselves with irregularly shaped branches that are difficult to manage and use. This type of timber could also be harvested and managed by this WSMC. Once the trees have been cleared and the branches have been cut using chainsaws, the WSMC, with tailor-made machinery, could also take care of the entire cutting phase (to be done automatically) for all the resulting types of wood: from irregular branches cut with the chainsaw , to the large one, of the buried logs. In addition to this, it could also have machinery suitable for managing trunks with earth attached, so that they can be easily cleaned of earth by drying and percussion and subsequently cut into woody parts suitable for subsequent use.
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However, as regards fruit stones, walnut shells, etc... they too are woody elements that can be exploited since, if not used for the production of new trees, in certain cases they are in any case combustible and not they go into the compost. Having the possibility of disposing them separately would be an excellent incentive for people who usually throw the woody parts in the unsorted waste, and this resource is then lost.
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In addition to these, the straws deriving from the bales of the wheat fields, in themselves are still potentially combustible elements. Straw is used for some uses relating to animals, but generally it can be considered in the same way as other wood, i.e. as fuel, if necessary, or in any case also for the production of paper and cardboard.
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In addition to this, there are also other types of woody or pseudo-woody elements, consisting of seeds or material that falls from trees and is deposited in certain gardens, which however cannot be collected with a rake but only with special vacuum cleaners (which I have never view). In theory, this too could be collected and used, as it often remains inert in the gardens and decomposes with the rain, and I don't know that it is edible by birds.
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When sometimes there are floods and wood accumulates in the riverbeds, even in that case the WSMC could intervene to clean it up and store all the wood that is found. That too is raw material that could be exploited, like that other one. In addition, keeping riverbeds clear of timber is vital to prevent the banks from breaking during floods.
In addition to this, those who deliver wood (mainly farmers, more or less directly) could simply have their wood weighed and paid for, in exchange for a very useful service.
Furthermore, the wood could then possibly be processed to become pellets, paper or cardboard, or even just sticks shorter than a certain length, so that it is still easy to manage and use.
Having a center like this with the machinery indicated would also serve to drastically reduce accidents linked to the wood cutting phases (which often occur manually), save farmers a lot of time and could instead automate a whole series of dangerous but useful operations management of all these types of wood as well as providing new resources that can be used that are already present in the area but currently unexploited.
Note: I am personally not happy that fruit trees have this life cycle, but I don't think that at the moment agriculture has anything else coming soon that I know of, considering that all agricultural vehicles are also designed for this type anyway of agriculture, so at least it is worth trying to exploit these woody resources as best we can to reduce unnecessary waste to a minimum.
Written by : Marco Bagnaresi
Email : contact@mbcraft.it