![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JVFZGT_john_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nJohn Caulton is calling for action to stop unregistered firewood sellers from lining their back pockets with cash while the community and local businesses pay the price.
\nPhoto: LDR\n<\/p>\n
A Hawke’s Bay wood merchant says a surge of unregistered wood sellers on Facebook’s Marketplace are undercutting reputable companies and putting consumers at risk.<\/p>\n
Woodstocks Firewood merchant owner John Caulton is calling for action from Inland Revenue and urging Hawke’s Bay councils to bring back a registration scheme that had helped prevent “firewood cowboys” from profiting.<\/p>\n
Caulton is blunt in his assessment of what he is seeing on Marketplace:<\/p>\n
“They don’t pay tax, lack safety standards, and sell poor-quality products which are harming consumers, legitimate businesses, and the wider community,” he claimed.<\/p>\n
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“These informal operators undermine local jobs, drain public revenue, and contribute to air pollution and respiratory illness through poorly seasoned firewood.”<\/p>\n
He said he had recently made a formal written complaint to Inland Revenue expressing his concerns.<\/p>\n
He said the issue was not new.<\/p>\n
In 2010, a working group was formed involving the IRD, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Napier City Council, Hastings City Council and established firewood suppliers.<\/p>\n
From that initiative, HBRC introduced the Good Wood Merchant Scheme, where people could find compliant operators who met wood quality standards and supplied dry seasoned wood.<\/p>\n
Caulton said if the suppliers delivered wet wood, customers were guaranteed a refund or a dry replacement load.<\/p>\n
“There’s no guarantee with these firewood cowboys,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I counted 60 in Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay on Marketplace in one day recently.<\/p>\n
“Most of the time, they have no sign writing or contact details on their trailers or trucks when they deliver wood.”<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for HBRC said the Good Wood scheme was a cornerstone initiative of its Heatsmart Programme, which ran from 2010 to 2018.<\/p>\n
“It was created to give households confidence that the firewood they purchased was genuinely dry and ready to burn,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
They said suppliers could register at no cost as approved providers, committed to selling wood with a moisture content below 25 percent.<\/p>\n
Free testing was available, if the wood didn’t meet the standard, a replacement or refund was arranged at the supplier’s expense.<\/p>\n
In 2018, Heatsmart evolved into the broader Sustainable Homes Programme.<\/p>\n
“The Good Wood scheme continued until 2024, when it closed, having largely achieved its purpose with a 72 percent improvement in air quality, and 18,500 households supported to create warmer, drier, healthier homes,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Caulton said the scheme worked well and it, or something similar, should be reinstated.<\/p>\n
“Non-compliant sellers are flourishing without the programme,” he said.<\/p>\n
“To restore fair trading, protect public health, and support honest local businesses, urgent action is needed – nationwide.”<\/p>\n
He said this would put a stop to the “fly-by-nighters” who get trees or logs, cut them straight into firewood and sell it.<\/p>\n
“It’s wet and green and the pollutants and contaminants in it result in respiratory illnesses when it’s burnt.”<\/p>\n
The HBRC spokesperson said the council would need to collect data over a longer period before it could say what impact, if any, ending the Good Wood Merchant scheme had had on air pollution in Napier and Hastings.<\/p>\n
“Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is not currently planning to reinstate the Good Wood scheme,” they said.<\/p>\n
“After Cyclone Gabrielle, our focus is on supporting community resilience in the areas where we can make the biggest difference – reducing flood risk, water security, and land and water health.”<\/p>\n
Caulton said the principle of a fair go was being undermined and was urging the IRD to treat it as a priority.<\/p>\n
IRD was approached for comment on Caulton’s complaint, but a spokesperson said it couldn’t comment on specific taxpayer matters because of section 18 of the Tax Administration Act, which relates to IRD’s confidentiality obligation.<\/p>\n
If wanting to buy firewood, Caulton’s advice is to do your homework first.<\/p>\n
“Search online. Generally if they have a website, they are a legitimate business.”<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Caulton is calling for action to stop unregistered firewood sellers from lining their back pockets with cash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-212567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}