Due to disease, development or simply aging, approximately 36 million trees are cut down in American cities every year. And with more violent storms ravaging our landscapes, not to mention the effects of climate change on our tree ecosystems, that number will only increase. (A good example is the thousands of trees in California right now.)
When most urban trees are cut down, burned, mulched or landfilled, their carbon embodiment and an estimated $786 million in annual economic value are lost to the ether.
Meanwhile, our country's huge appetite for wood products continues to grow. With the common habit of consuming 50 billion board feet of lumber each year, throwing away these felled products seems not only unnecessary, but downright stupid.
We wonder why waste good wood?
Join the Urban Forest project
Throwing downed trees is like demolishing old building materials, a topic I touched on a few months ago. Instead of using the material at hand, with a little common sense and effort, we throw it away and replace it with something new. I then noted that "we need more distributed organizations in the deconstruction and reuse industry to expand market offerings with the added benefit of increasing sustainability and economic activity in local communities."
So I was happy to hear about the urban wood project.
Created in 2018 under the auspices of the USDA Forest Service, the Urban Wood project began in Baltimore when the social organization Humanium and contemporary furniture brand Room & Board helped create a public-private partnership.
By salvaging wood from structures slated for demolition and urban trees felled due to disease, maintenance and storm damage, the project created jobs outside the fence while diverting waste from landfills and carbon from the atmosphere. Instead, Room and Board has created unique furniture from precious reclaimed materials. The result? A win-win that brings social, environmental and economic benefits to the city of Baltimore.
Since its inception, the Urban Wood project has collectively saved approximately 180,000 board feet of lumber and expanded its supply in the United States by relying on materials from Anaheim and Sacramento, California; Detroit, Minneapolis and most recently New York.
We try to use more renewable and recycled materials whenever possible. Work with cities across the country to divert urban wood from landfills and create a circular supply chain in line with our long-term vision.
In its latest incarnation, Room and Board has teamed up with Tri-Lox, a design and manufacturing company based in Brooklyn, New York. Together, they operate the indoor water tanks that dot the iconic New York skyline and help with Room & Board renovations. In total, the company takes about 200 trees a year out of the waste stream and provides about 30 wood products as part of the project.
To learn more about the Urban Wood project, I emailed Emily McGarvey, director of sustainability at Room & Board, with a few questions. The following exchange has been edited for length and clarity.
Suge Oki: Why is the Urban Wood project a strategic priority for Room and Board?
Emily McGarvey: Wood is our most widely used material. Responsive search makes sense. And because 90% of our products are made in the USA, we are uniquely positioned to keep materials and manufacturing in-country.
Since our founding in 1980, sustainable practices have been central to our business. As a founding member of the Sustainable Furniture Council, we recognize that there is much more to be done, from sourcing better and more responsible materials to investing in the well-being of people and communities. Our aspiration is to be a sustainable leader that makes a positive impact on society and the world. We prioritize social and environmental issues based on the material importance of food and housing [and] we have organized our priority issues around three pillars: better products; good for people; And better for the planet.
Because of this, we prioritize durability through American craftsmanship, style and trendsetting design. We try to use more renewable and recycled materials whenever possible. Work with cities across the country to divert urban wood from landfills and create a circular supply chain in line with our long-term vision. We are able to prioritize this project with the strong support of management and customers who bring home these historic quality products.
OKI: Tell me a little bit about Urban Wood Project's New York expansion and the lumber you buy there.
McGarvey: Every city presents a unique opportunity. In New York, our partner Tri-Lox transforms unused water towers into the Milbridge Frame (available now) and the Artemis Bath Collection (launching in April). These unused water towers are made from California redwood and Alaskan cedar.
Tri-lox is also experimenting with New York City's park system, using reclaimed oak trees and turning them into Stanley wall shelves (launching late January 2023). The city is finding that if the water level rises due to climate change, some trees will not do well in it. These trees include London sycamores and red and white oaks.
We are experimenting with solutions because these trees will eventually need to be replaced by species that can better respond to climate change.
Oki: What challenges do the rooms and dishes face when using reclaimed materials?
McGarvey: We are building a circular urban wood supply chain with many partners. Being part of the process is exciting and requires patience and flexibility. We encountered three main challenges in our efforts.
- Design – Transforming materials destined for waste into beautiful heirloom furniture can be an incredible design challenge. Our designers creatively design reclaimed wood products to achieve maximum value, understanding their unique quality and character and following our design principles: timeless and contemporary natural materials, craftsmanship and high quality.
- Sourcing : In this new circular system, supply chains must be connected and sometimes created. Working with government, nonprofits, startups and existing suppliers, Room & Board helps build the supply chain needed to get components from urban areas to pre-processing manufacturing and ultimately through Room & Board showrooms. It takes patience and flexibility to develop a supply chain that didn't exist before.
- Scale – In order to measure your final reclaimed lumber, you need a constant and reliable supply of quality lumber. Larger lumber is needed for the production of bulky items such as dining tables and chests of drawers. As the cyclical supply chain evolves and matures, it will become more efficient and bring costs closer to traditional ones. This will allow more businesses to join us in using more reclaimed wood.
As McGarvey suggests, creating a robust urban wood reuse and recovery system requires more organizations, associations and links in the supply chain. But there are economic and environmental savings for those willing to make the effort: each felled tree represents a unique opportunity, as do the cities where it fell.
At the risk of repeating myself, the extra effort seems worth it from where I sit.
