Why Wood Why Recovered Wood? UnderWater W
Post# of 17862
Why Wood & Why Recovered Wood?
Common sense says we should be using this clean, versatile and renewable natural resource to produce as many products as possible, as long as the resource in managed in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner. In order to insure the sustainability of our wood resources and the health of our forest environments, while simultaneously increasing the utilization of wood, we must vastly improve how we manage every cubic foot of already harvested timber. To this end, it becomes imperative that we seek out every opportunity to capitalize on available pre and post consumer wood before additional healthy and CO² sequestering trees are cut down unnecessarily. Responsible wood resource management requires that every tree that has been harvested is used to its maximum potential economic and environmental value.
To this end, UnderWater Wood Specialists strives to maximize the solid wood yield of every sinker log we harvest. Each log is reviewed for best use opportunity and sawed with a thin bandsaw to maximize solid wood product opportunities while minimizing offal material. Much of the material that would be chipped at most sawmills we convert into a range of attractive and functional products. The fuels, mulches and other bi-products produced through the chippers and grinders at most mills release the CO² sequestered in the wood when they are burned or left to decompose as ground cover. In the case of allowing wood to decompose, methane is also released adding to already expanding global warming problems. By focusing primarily on the production of solid wood products while minimizing the volume of offal material generated in manufacturing process, the vast majority of sequestered CO² remains embodied in our wood products.
Since most every product that can be made from virgin wood can also be made from recovered wood, recovered wood products provide environmentally conscientious consumers with the benefit of products that generate an even smaller environmental footprint than items made from virgin wood. Our wood “Recovery and Value Adding” (RVA) program is dedicated to proving that through creative and responsible utilization of recoverable under-utilized and waste stream wood resources, low to high skilled Green collar manufacturing sector jobs can be generated, economic development opportunities can be created, embodied CO² can remain sequestered, mountains of wood can be diverted from already over burdened landfills, and less harvesting pressure can be imposed on our healthy forests. For Green minded designers, architects and developers, products produced from recovered wood provide the opportunity to secure a range of LEED and other Green credits.