Sourcing Sustainable Wood

Goal:

The goal of my project is to create a cheap and easily implemented way to cut down on the amount of wood waste that goes to landfills every year.

Primary Audience:

My audience will mostly be woodworkers both amateur and advanced who need cheap wood for their projects.

Stakeholders:

• Lumber companies → lumber companies might either be opposed to this or use it as a way to make more money, either way, it will impact them in some way.

• Woodworkers → will be able to find scrap wood more easily rather than having to use scrap wood from other projects that they might not want to use for one reason or another. Or they might not have the right type of wood and are unable to easily obtain it.

• Stores → someone is going to have to sell the scrap wood as well as collect it so the stores themselves would have to be on board as well, and have or get the necessary areas and tools to take apart, distribute, categorize, and collect the wood.

Benefits:

Allow woodworkers to source scrap wood easily as well as more organic pieces of wood that might not be sold at most stores. It would also create a cheap way to get small pieces of wood for smaller projects where large pieces would be unnecessary. It would also cut down on the millions of tons of wood waste that go to landfills every year.

In 2018 alone 12.15 millón tons of wood waste went to landfills and only 3.1 million were recycled and 2.84 million were used as fuel.

If we continue on the upwards trend in how much we recycle with an average increase in the amount recycled every year of 495,000, and the amount in landfills is the average between 1990 and 2018 (11,032,857): it will take 2,154 years for the amount recycled to meet the amount in landfills, by this time it’ll be 4174.

Considering the amount going to landfills every year is likely to increase this estimate is likely not even close. The trend lines for the amount going to landfills and the amount being recycled (using all data) intersect in the negatives rather than the positives meaning that using the trends rather than averages, the amount being recycled will never catch up to how much is being put in landfills.

Constraints:

It must be able to be easily sourced and easily obtained by anyone. It must also be cheap and affordable to the average person. Labor costs for taking apart pallets and furniture will bring up the price, to combat this, power tools and other mechanisms can speed up this process and cut down on cost.

Some reclaimed wood can also be toxic due to certain chemical treatments or coatings, these woods should be labeled as such. They will be labeled as not usable for certain things like sanding or drilling because of toxins they could release.

Resources and Materials:

1. Wood sources

2. A collection site

3. A distribution site

4. Tags to identify wood or places to store categories individually

5. An industrial scale to measure the amount of wood

6. Tools to take apart furniture and wood products (pry bars, hammers, screwdrivers, drills, saws/cutting tools, etc.)

7. A method of drying green wood (kiln, industrial microwave, or a fan and heater/dehumidifier)

How can it promote action?

I plan to make a plan of action to show how scrap wood can be turned in for money, similar to how bottles are turned in, at designated sites such as hardware and craft stores. I plan to create a format that can be easily applied and utilized by any store and allow anyone to use and give to. This framework can hopefully provide a way to cut down on the millions of tons of wood waste that go to landfills each year.

Presentation Format:

Hypothetical plan of action or slide show