Australia’s wine industry is vast, and behind every row of vines stands treated timber posts. When a vineyard reaches the end of its productive life, those posts require careful disposal: subject to waste regulations, they must go to licenced landfill facilities, which can be costly for growers. As a result, posts are often stockpiled on-site, presenting challenges in bushfire-prone regions.
The Vineyard Post Reuse Pilot, part of The Timber Circularity Project, is developing a practical end-of-life alternative and the upcoming Pilot Showcase is the culmination of trials run by the FABAL Group. Using innovative technology to process the vineyard posts for reuse, it represents a step forward for the Timber Circularity Project in developing pathways for CCA treated timber posts.
The scale of the opportunity
Between 1.7 and 4.3 million treated timber posts are currently being removed from Australian vineyards annually, representing 15,000 to 38,000 tonnes per year. This initiative is addressing that problem by safely stripping them to be repurposed as fence posts or landscaping materials using a system that can readily be adopted by vineyard managers and farmers. At $3.50 – $5.50 per post, times 600 – 700 per hectare, there’s potential to save up to $3000 a hectare in waste management.
Dr Pene Mitchell, Research Fellow from National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life who is leading the project, puts it plainly: “If we treat timber, we can get 20 plus years out of it. If we change to concrete or steel or plastic, the overall sustainable impact is much more significant: “We really need to find a solution for treated timber in a circular economy.”
Practical technology fit for purpose
The post reuse system is mobile and can connect directly to existing farm machinery, meaning capital and operating costs are reduced and logistics costs are kept to a minimum.
Early studies suggest the system can process around 600 posts per day, and preliminary economic modelling indicates that the posts can be sold for more than it costs to process them.
“We thought it wouldn’t be economically viable,” Dr Mitchell says. “But then when you factor in the fact that the farmers would have to pay to get rid of them, it just makes a lot of sense.”
What timber circularity really means
Research indicates that timber has a fraction of the environmental impact of extractive materials such as steel and concrete as it can be grown in ways that build ecosystems rather than deplete them. Timber already has strong sustainability credentials – it’s renewable and stores carbon. The next step is building better reuse and recycling pathways so those benefits last even longer.
“The timber circularity project just closes that loop of how we can continue to keep timber in our supply chain,” Dr Mitchell says. “The benefits of sustainability, community, economic security, all of those things can be addressed through a timber circular economy.”
The Vineyard Post Reuse Pilot Showcase takes place on Thursday 21 May 2026 at Vinarchy Langhorne Creek Vineyard in South Australia, where attendees will see the technology in action and hear more about the project’s findings and future direction.
About the Timber Circularity Project
The Timber Circularity Project, led by the University of the Sunshine Coast’s National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life, is dedicated to identifying and implementing strategies for the repurposing and recycling of preservative-treated timber and engineered wood products (EWPs).
Commenced in 2023, the project is a three-year endeavour supported and funded by leading industry stakeholders, including: Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), Wine Australia, Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA), Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia (EWPAA), Frame & Truss Manufacturing Association (FTMA), Koppers Performance Chemicals, Hexion, and Azelis.
The vineyard post pilot is co-funded by the South Australian Wine Recovery Program and delivered in partnership with FABAL Group Pty Ltd.
