Firewood company's roaring trade

A Wiltshire company is doing such a roaring trade in firewood that it needs to find more suppliers.

Wiltshire Wood Recycling uses unwanted wood from building sites and converts it to firewood, benches and coffins.

The slowdown in the housing market means there are less raw materials around just as homeowners are looking for a cheaper alternative to gas.

The not-for-profit company will collect from building sites in a 25-mile radius of its base in Castle Combe.

Director Ed Brand said: "We take the wood away in our gas-powered van, sort and grade it and sell it on or turn it into something useful. Every scrap is used and very little ends up in landfill.

"But the lack of activity in the building trade has hit us hard. New build houses are our best source of good quality wood and scaffolding planks.

"Although we have deals to recycle the wood from sites owned by major house builders like Crest Nicholson, we also need to reach independent building firms operating on smaller sites."