Giving Our Spare Pallets a Second Life

Delivering firewood across the island means we end up with a lot of pallets. We realise that skips and bonfires are not the right answer, so for the past year or so, ours have gone somewhere much more useful: the Jersey Prison Service.

What they make from them

The carpentry workshop at La Moye turns reclaimed pallet timber into things that genuinely help local wildlife, including squirrel boxes, bird feeders, and hedgehog feeders and homes. It's part of the vocational training the prison offers, helping prisoners build practical skills while making something useful, in line with the service's aim of "Releasing Better Neighbours" (see the La Moye Prison page on gov.je).

The hedgehog boxes are a good example of how far the benefit reaches. The Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group gets its nesting and feeding boxes from the Prison Service and passes them on for a donation (currently £15 for a feeding box and £20 for a nesting box), with the money going towards caring for sick, injured and orphaned hedgehogs across the island. You can read more about the project in this write-up of the carpentry class and the hedgehog boxes.

A stall, and nothing wasted

The Prison Service also sells what it makes from its own stall, with the money raised going to charity. It isn't all wildlife boxes either: they make festive pieces too, like wooden reindeer around Christmas and Easter bunnies in the spring. You can keep an eye on what's available and when via the States of Jersey Prison Service Facebook page.

Even the offcuts get a second life: any pieces of wood too small or awkward to build with are recycled into kindling, so the whole pallet gets used.

Why it matters to us

We'd rather our leftover pallets did some good than ended up as waste, and this keeps them on the island, supporting local training, local wildlife and local charity. It's also part of our commitment as a member of the eco active business network, the Government of Jersey eco active scheme that helps island businesses lower their environmental impact (you can find us on the network's list of members). Reusing pallets instead of throwing them away prevents waste, and it's one of the practical actions we take as part of that. It's a small thing, but it's the kind of thing we think a local business should be doing.

If you've got a hedgehog-friendly garden, a feeding box from the Hedgehog Preservation Group is a lovely way to support them, and every one you pick up has a little bit of Jersey firewood delivery in its history.

And if you're stocking up for the colder months, our kiln dried logs, kindling and firelighters are delivered free across all 12 parishes.

Kiln Dried Logs Jersey delivers Woodsure Ready to Burn certified firewood free across all 12 parishes.