Family business sparks success in eco-friendly fire bag fuels

By JACQUELINE HOGGE FROM construction to combustion, two brothers from Williamstown have turned the recession into a profitable business by branching out into eco friendly home fuels. Declan and Alan Mitchell were working on highly specialised civil engineering projects in Dublin until the downturn in the economy forced them to rethink their career options. After extensive research, the brothers decided to try their hand at alternative home fuel options, with the fire bag model their target product. 'We looked at all types of fuel and how we could make them more convenient, clean and eco-friendly,' said Declan. 'There isn't that much choice out there for the consumer when it comes to this method of home heat, so we researched the two main competitors and looked at ways of refining and improving the product. 'Our unique selling point is the fact there are no fossil fuels in our fire bag, it's all renewable, consisting of compressed wood shavings along with a fire bag made of shredded newspaper.' Sourcing woodchip from a sawmill in Ballinasloe and several tonnes of old copies of The Tuam Herald, the Mitchell brothers distribute the fire bags from their unit at Airglooney Business Park to supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol stations throughout the country. 'We take a half a tonne of Tuam Heralds every six to eight weeks, which we shred and mix with a special oil that forms the disintegrator process, almost like a firelighter, which goes in with the wood chip and ignites the fire bag,' explains Declan. 'Our product is eco friendly, renewable and CO2 neutral and the feedback we've received in our first year has been very encouraging. The fire bags burn for between three and four hours and the heat is instant compared to the traditional way of lighting a fire, which can take up to an hour to get going. 'The emissions are also a lot lower than fossil fuel burning fires, and over the past year we've been supplying wholesalers throughout the country from Donegal to Wexford, Cork and Dublin and we're also available at Aldi stores throughout the country.' Joyce's supermarkets in Tuam as well as Nestor's Supermarkets in Galway city currently stock the fire bags, along with eco-friendly firelighters, which have a special match head that makes them self-lighting. 'The firelighters are becoming as popular as the fire bags as they are a much cleaner option because they do not contain kerosene, which accounts for the pungency of the conventional firelighters available on the market,' added Declan. A year after producing their own product the company has now branched out to produce coal-based fire bags for the convenience stores Spar and Mace, which are due in shops in the coming months. 'We've just signed off on the prototypes for the branding and packaging for both stores and now it's a case of getting started on actual production, so all going to plan, we should be in both shops by early December,' said Declan.