As a disposable society, discarded shipping crates, to most, is simply garbage; a log floating behind a dam is just part of nature; and, trees singed from forest fire is nothing but rubble. Or is it?
Salvaging what was once seen as unusable wood has become a popular way for a manufacturer to build a platform for sustainability and create beautiful flooring collections all at once. Reclaimed wood sources can come from common or overlooked places such as gym bleachers, wine casks and retired boats.
Several companies are promoting sustainability by finding unique uses for reclaimed wood, thereby preventing this wood from ending up in landfills.
Sustainable Lumber Company, a hardwood manufacturer in Missoula, Mo., has been promoting sustainability since the company started. One neat project the company is working on is salvaging 125 year old logs that have dredged up behind the Bonner Dam, built in 1880 on the Blackfoot River in Missoula. It is also working on dismantling the Bonner dam and turning the reclaimed timber into flooring material, as well as dismantling local ranches to produce wood wall panels.
“We try to keep everything local. We use 100 percent of the tree and what we don’t use, we burn for our boiler to dry our wood and heat our facility,” explained Ryan Palma, co-founder, Sustainable Lumber Company.
Not wanting timber caught in forest fires to go to waste, Sustainable Lumber Company has also found uses for the damaged wood by working in partnership with loggers featured on the History Channel’s Ax Men.
“The timber is extremely stable for many years. Because of the dry climate in Montana, the wood is bone dry. We had these big diameter trees with about 3 inches to 4 inches of sap to get through. Many of the trees had defects and we were ending up with a lot of short boards. We wanted to find a home for each part of the tree so we decided to make flooring out of it,” said Palma.
Mohawk offers its customers two reclaimed wood collections: Zanzibar and Kingsmill. Mohawk’s Zanzibar collection contains wood salvaged from dismantled buildings from around the world, with some wood as old as 600 years.
“A second life as flooring for this beautiful reclaimed wood means less material in landfills, as well as reduced harvesting of new wood and the accompanying energy use required to manufacture hardwood flooring,” said Tammy Perez, senior brand manager, hard surface, Mohawk. “We are doing something that is good for the environment that also tells a timeless story.”
Viridian Reclaimed Wood, a Portland, Ore.-based manufacturer of sustainable hardwood products, discovered one particularly unusual source for reclaimed wood — wood from local ships in the Port of Portland.
When company founders Pierce Henley and Joe Mitchoff found out that due to the cost and nature of unloading ships, most of the dunnage material was ending up in local landfills, they decided to eradicate the useless dumping of good material and turn it into something useful.
“Our production starts with our warehouse in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, where every day dumpsters of wooden shipping crates arrive. It takes a lot of grit and determination to sort through the wood to get to the good stuff. We are committed to finding the best use for our wood products to reduce demand for new lumber,” said Viridian co-founder, Pierce Henley.