Pack Tuff bags are leaving their mark on Australia’s most significant water pipeline projects.
Water utilities and pipeline companies spare no expense when it comes to finding ways to reduce leakage from water networks. But sometimes it’s the little things – often overlooked – that can make a world of difference.
Pack Tuff bags from Pollards Sawdust Supplies fall comfortably in this bracket. For more than five decades, the company has transformed timber by-products into pipe bedding bags, known as Pack Tuff, that contractors rely on to support and protect vital pipeline infrastructure.
Hundreds of thousands of these bags have been utilised on pipeline projects across Australia. In the water industry, six pallets of Pack Tuff bags were recently shipped to the Alkimos seawater desalination project. This major infrastructure project will provide 50 billion clean, safe drinking water to millions of Western Australians each year. It includes the construction of two underground marine pipelines: an intake pipeline to take seawater into the plant, and an outflow pipeline to return the brine back into the ocean.
On the other side of the country, Pollards Sawdust Supplies provided roughly 30,000 bags for the $500 million Wentworth to Broken Hill pipeline in NSW. This 270km pipeline was built to transport 37.4 megalitres of raw water per day from the River Murray to Broken Hill and surrounding communities, which had suffered significant water shortages for years.
In Queensland, Pollards supplied roughly 25,000 Pack Tuff bags to the Fitzroy to Gladstone water pipeline. This $983 million mega-project included the construction of a 117km-long pipeline, a water treatment plant, reservoirs and multiple pumping stations.
Down south, the company left its mark on Melbourne Water’s Yan Yean to Bald Hill pipeline, supplying its Pack Tuff bags which helped support the construction of the 20km water pipeline.
These are just a handful of recent projects. For a company that is nearing 60 years in business, its mark on the pipeline industry is hard to overstate.
Letting the best be their best
Pack Tuff bags are manufactured using sustainably sourced, chemical-free virgin timber, kiln-dried or air-dried to precise standards. Pack Tuff’s polywoven bags are robust enough to withstand the rough conditions of pipeline construction sites, yet flexible enough under pressure to avoid dangerous ‘exploding’ under the weight of heavy steel pipeline sections – even those weighing up to 15 tonnes.
Unlike rigid pipe bedding, like wood, the flexible bags are able to contour to challenging terrain. This helps create a stable base even where the ground is uneven or sloped.
One of the most significant advantages of Pack Tuff over traditional sandbags is its low weight. For pipeline crews working long hours on remote sites, that means easier manual handling and a reduced risk of injury. It also means the cost of transportation remains low. In some cases, Pollards can even freight its Pack Tuff bags packaged with manufactured pipe, eliminating transport costs altogether. The company has such an arrangement with Steel Mains, where the pipe manufacturer will freight its product to site with Pack Tuff bags already on board.
The durability and reusability of Pack Tuff bags also make them an economical solution. Many contractors report being able to reuse them multiple times, even after harsh exposure during transit or construction, adding up to a lower long-term cost of ownership and less waste compared with one-use alternatives.
While pipeline bedding might not grab headlines like large-scale infrastructure upgrades, it is just as critical to the success of the overall project. For Pollards Sawdust Supplies, the company’s merits hardly need explanation. Pick any pipeline project around Australia and there’s a good chance it was built on Pack Tuff bags.
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