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Turning Sawdust into Gold: How a Blue Mountains Carpenter is Heating Homes and Reducing Waste
Briquettes made from sawdust at Against The Grain (Photo: Saskia Everingham)
Story and photos by Saskia Everingham
When Dave Spees began making timber windows and doors out of his garage in 2006, he didn’t expect sawdust to become one of his biggest problems – or his most innovative solution.
Nearly two decades later, the Leura-based carpenter and founder of Against the Grain has turned the by-product of his craft into a sustainable, sought-after winter fuel. His compressed sawdust briquettes are now helping to heat homes across the Blue Mountains, all while dramatically reducing landfill waste.
Key Points:
Dave Spees transformed his carpentry business’s sawdust waste problem into a sustainable heating solution by creating compressed briquettes for Blue Mountains residents.
After initial challenges with a small press, a $200,000 German Weima machine now produces high-quality briquettes using only hydraulic pressure and premium timber sawdust.
The briquettes have become a popular winter fuel staple, with up to 40 tonnes stored annually and strong demand from local residents.
From Craftsmanship to Climate-Conscious Innovation
Spees, a long-time Mountains local who grew up in Springwood, has spent his life working with timber: first as a carpenter and joiner, then as a bespoke window maker. By 2009 his window-making business had taken off, as had his production of sawdust.
“We were filling 10 to 12 industrial bins of sawdust every month,” Spears recalls. “It was becoming a serious stress. It didn’t feel right to just keep dumping it into landfill.”
That waste stream eventually led him overseas, where a trade expo in Germany opened his eyes to how European manufacturers were compressing sawdust into heating briquettes. In fact, they were using the briquettes to heat the factories. Nothing, he noticed, was going to waste.
Dave Spees (Photo: Saskia Everingham)
A Machine with Muscle
Back home, Spees invested in a small German briquette press and reworked his factory’s dust extraction system to feed it. But early versions of the briquettes – small, soft discs – weren’t quite hitting the mark.
“People liked the idea, but not the product,” he says. “They’d fall apart too easily, especially in fireplaces. We solved our dust problem, but we hadn’t cracked the briquette.”
After a few years of trial and error, Spees applied for a NSW Bin Trim grant, a government initiative aimed at managing commercial waste. The grant allowed him to purchase a high-capacity $200,000 Weima press – far more powerful and sophisticated than his first.
It was a risk, especially for a small family business. But the investment paid off.
Vacuum chutes collecting sawdust to send to the press. (Photo: Saskia Everingham)
Collected sawdust fed into the press. (Photo: Saskia Everingham)
Briquettes fresh from the press dropping into the container(Photo: Saskia Everingham)
The new press creates dense, high-performance briquettes using only hydraulic pressure – no glue, no additives. It has an 800mm diameter pipe that sucks the dust from each workbench into a huge external hopper, from which the briquettes are then compressed.
The external hopper (Photo: Saskia Everingham)
The mix includes offcuts of premium Australian hardwoods and imported timbers like rosewood, cedar and blackbutt – leftovers from Spees’ custom window and door work.
“They’re dry, clean-burning, and incredibly efficient,” he says. “People are often surprised by how much heat they generate.”
The briquettes for sale at Against The Grain’s Katoomba showroom (Photo: Saskia Everingham)
From Waste to Winter Warmth
The briquettes are now a staple for many Blue Mountains residents, especially older locals who can no longer split firewood. Spees stores up to 40 tonnes each summer in preparation for winter, when demand surges.
“We have regulars who come in with boxes to fill up,” he says. “It’s all self-serve. We don’t really advertise anymore – word’s spread.”
So much so that during especially cold or wet seasons, the briquettes have occasionally sold out. In those cases, Spees and his team keep a waiting list, prioritising vulnerable or elderly customers.
The sawdust comes from a wide range of timber sources, and balancing the composition to keep the press running smoothly remains an ongoing challenge.
“One minute we’re machining soft pine, the next it’s dense ironbark,” Spees explains. “That can jam the machine if we’re not careful. It’s taken years to get the settings right, but the support from Weima’s team in Germany has been incredible.”
Designing for the Fire
The story comes full circle in Spees’ own Leura home, which he designed around a fireplace with hydronic radiators – a nod to European efficiency.
“I always wanted to be able to heat my own home with the material we produce,” he says. “And now I can. We’re not just keeping warm, we’re closing the loop.”
The project exemplifies how sustainable thinking, paired with craftsmanship and persistence, can reshape an industry from the inside out.
From discarded sawdust to winter staple, Spees’ briquettes are more than just an alternative fuel: they’re a local blueprint for what small businesses can do when sustainability becomes part of the design.
Against the Grain also supplies boxes of kindling (Photo: Saskia Everingham)
Interested in trying the briquettes?
Against the Grain offers self-serve pickup from their factory at Unit 24-26, Megalong St, Katoomba. Supplies are limited in winter: best to bring your own box and get in early!
This year, the Australian Bushfire Building and Asbestos & Hazardous Materials Management conferences are joining forces with the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative for Full Cycle 2025, to increase collaboration across sectors, from design to disposal. This vital conference and community expo will explore approaches to reducing risks in a changing climate: from multi-hazards like fire, flood, heatwave and extreme humidity, to hazardous materials like mould, microplastics, PFAS, asbestos and engineered stone. Registration will be live in the coming weeks. In the meantime, visit the Full Cycle 2025 website for more information and to sign up to the mailing list (link in profile) https://www.fullcycleconference.com.au/
Yesterday the community gathered to celebrate Sister Jacinta Shailer`s 98th Birthday! Earlier this year at the Planetary Health Centre she urged us all to join a revolution centred in the transformative power of love, by joining heroic communities that foster compassion, justice, care of the needy, creative imagining, ways of life-giving thinking, ways of contemplating the wonders of our world in the small and the large, the weird and the wonderful. Watch an excerpt of her speech here or read our full story published earlier this year in Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/create-heroic-communities/
Council is calling on the community to contribute to the development of a Community Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan (CCRAA). There will be a Community Climate Risk and Adaptation Workshop on Saturday 30 August, from 10am to 1pm at Springwood Sports Club, followed by lunch.
You can also contribute by completing the online survey before 29 August.
Your knowledge and experience are critical in helping identify local risks, priorities and practical solutions. Many in our community are already taking action, and these stories, along with diverse perspectives, will help shape a more resilient future for the Blue Mountains.
We encourage you to attend and share the event with your networks to help ensure every voice is heard.
Places are limited for the workshop, so register early here (link in profile): https://climateriskworkshop.eventbrite.com.au Complete the survey here (link in profile): https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/community-climate-risk-and-adaptation-plan-community-survey
The development of this plan is being funded by the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grant Program.
This video captures the most moving speech at the Peace Symposium: that by journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, who described the true horror and tragedy of nuclear weapons. She went on to describe how, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of both cities dedicated themselves to peace building from the grassroots. Small yet courageous actions by these individuals have reached and changed countless lives in the world. After her presentation, Harumi taught families at the Community Peace Picnic how to fold paper cranes.
At the Peace Symposium, Rotarian Jennifer Scott AM outlined how Rotarians around the world are taking action for peace: from providing mental health first aid in our local community to working for social and environmental justice on a global scale. You can watch an excerpt from her presentation in this video.
In his opening speech for the Peace Symposium Dharug man Chris Tobin shared a Dreamtime story about the Waratah, which emerged from a bloody conflict as a symbol of reconciliation.
@mark_greenhill_oam, Mayor of the City of Blue Mountains, welcomed participants to the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium. As a signatory of Mayors for Peace he spoke of the urgency to act to prevent nuclear war and to end the genocide in Gaza.
The Peace Symposium was organised to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
You can watch our full playlist of videos for Making Peace on our YouTube channel (link in profile): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&list=PLBu_QF9Pp5hPoaLWW0ZLHhwS6hPd-x-Rl
View Ecopella`s rousing anthem `You`re Needed Now!` They performed it at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on the eve of the March for Humanity and the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Contact them if you`re interested in joining the choir which has branches around Eastern NSW.
If you`d like to hear the other presentations at the Symposium visit the Planetary Health YouTube channel (link in profile)
Renowned Permaculture teacher and Katoomba resident Rowe Morrow has been a Quaker for 40 years. She spoke at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium about the extraordinary work Quakers have done, and are doing, for Peace, and the strategies they`ve developed: from working to abolish slavery, to being instrumental in starting Oxfam and Amnesty International, to training communities in non-violent communication and conflict resolution, conscientious objection, direct action, divestment strategies and more. You can listen to her discuss these in her presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&t=5s
This week President Trump gave an order for two nuclear submarines to proceed towards Russia. This act was the starting point of Robert Tickner`s talk at the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty in the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium yesterday.
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and, as ICAN Ambassador, Robert Tickner helped launch ICAN`s Week of Action for Abolition at the Symposium. You can listen to his full talk in the video below or view it on YouTube via link in profile:
Despite the very challenging weather for the Peace Symposium yesterday we also enjoyed an indoor `Community Picnic` with delicious food, origami crane and badge making workshops, a book stall by RoseyRavelston books, and wonderful performances by Ecopella and the Bearded Ladies Community Choir. The venue was dotted with historical posters reflecting a long history of the Blue Mountains taking a stand against war and nuclear weapons and we were thrilled to hear during the Symposium that the Supreme Court had authorised the March for Humanity today.
With 23 shops to explore, including lots of funky vintage clothing stores and op shops, Katoomba is a growing hub for sustainable fashion and the circular economy. Take a tour of what’s on offer where..
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