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Draft storyAt the reuse workshop

Timber with another job

Reuse, recycling and energy recovery are three different things.

A draft: the words and pictures are waiting for an educator’s review.

Who’s in it

Meet everyone in Gullbrae

The story

Stan lays clean reclaimed boards on a workshop bench beside three picture cards: a chair, a wood panel and a building.

At the reuse workshop, Stan laid out some clean old boards and three picture cards.

Stan: “Let’s see what’s still useful.”

Eddie waves cheerfully across the three cards while Stan and Priya listen.

Eddie waved at all three cards and called them all recycling. Stan and Priya were not so sure.

For grown-ups: Eddie’s idea that everything is recycling is the mistake in this story. Reuse, recycling and energy recovery are different.

Stan shows a clean plank next to a repaired chair while Priya holds a piece of wood-fibre panel.

Stan explained reuse: good wood can be used again, like in this mended chair. Priya showed how other wood can become new panel instead.

Priya: “Let’s find out what it’s made of.”

Priya puts a picture of a closed energy-recovery building well apart from the plank and the panel.

Priya put the third card apart from the others. Energy recovery is different from recycling.

For grown-ups: After a competent adult has checked it, suitable intact timber may be reused; suitable wood may be recycled into a new material; or suitable wood may go for energy recovery. These are three different outcomes, not three routes for the same board. Energy recovery is not recycling, and this is not an instruction to burn wood at home.

In a classroom, Isla, Stan and Priya add captions under three separate pictures.

At school, Isla, Stan and Priya gave each path its proper name: reuse, recycling and energy recovery.

For grown-ups: The three captions read: reuse, for the intact timber made into a chair; recycling, for wood fibre made into a panel; and energy recovery, for the closed plant.

Back at the workshop, Stan shows Isla a sturdy repaired chair and a good plank on the bench.

Back at the workshop, Stan showed Isla the mended chair. Good wood can keep being useful.

Draft, 20 October 2026. The words and pictures are not yet reviewed by an educator. The story follows the outline in our story guide.

The real-life bit

After a competent adult has checked it, suitable intact timber may be reused, suitable wood may be recycled into a new material, or suitable wood may go for energy recovery. These are three different outcomes, not three routes for the same board, and wood with coatings or treatment needs a professional to assess it. Gullbrae is made up. Your council’s own rules are the ones to follow.

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