Eric Smith   Online Professional
I know a guy locally who makes small wooden bird cages, letterboxes, dog kennels, cat scratching poles and the like all from recycled wood and other recycled materials. He sells them at local markets...

If you have access to a "thicknesser" or electric hand plane you can turn old and damaged timber into a nice clean product that can be used to make coffee tables, chopping boards, etc.

Wood chips and saw dust can be added to compost, used as a mulch on the garden, used in craft work. If used as a mulch or for craft work they would need to be dry. Green (fresh) wood chips can be added to compost but should not be added in thick layers.
Dec 21st 2007 14:18   

Not Here  just want my account deleted
Hi There,

Just what kind of waste are we talking about? eg..is the excess wood flooring end trimmings? How long?

and what kind of volume are we dealing with?

What kind of wood?

As Eric had mentioned sawdust can be used for compost...green sawdust is actually awesome for composting as it will speed the process up...also good for DRY soil...be careful not to add too much though!

All else fails it can all be burned...lol...excellent soure of heat(much better for the enviroment than gas or oil) or if you have a really huge volume can be burned to produce power.
Dec 21st 2007 15:20   

Eric Smith   Online Professional
.... adding green sawdust in many "smaller" layers will prevent it from leaching nitrogen from the rest of the heap.... otherwise as Garnet said.... its great stuff and it does speed up the composting process because it allows the heap to retain its heat as well as breath which the micro-organisms need to work the compost heap.
Dec 21st 2007 16:40   

Jenny Stewart   
Hi, I am very curious why you are asking the question.

There are hundreds of things you can do to recycle wood . The craft industry is full of them.

Old railway lines were used in my village to make the promenade and the pier!

Wooden telephone posts have lots of options too!
Dec 21st 2007 16:55   

Eric Smith   Online Professional
... its the "going green for planet earth" group... its a good idea to discuss different ways to use bits and pieces... some people may be surprised by what can be done with waste products rather than tossing them in the bin...

AND it beats reading ads all the time ;o)

I even clicked on "Xtremes" link, it turns out i have been introduced to that program by a friend and fellow moderator at another forum so would go with them if i joined... but suffice to say the topic was interesting to me so i checked what the author was promoting...

Thats the power of social networking...


Dec 21st 2007 17:08   

Theresa   
Heh, good problem to have :-) You can make so many things and if nothing else donate it to use for heating! I am thinking a neighborhood bonfire might be fun - LOL (just kidding) sorta.

Here is what I did -- http://www.apsense.com/article/112405.html


Dec 21st 2007 17:13   

Mike   
I only asked because I live near a wood Flooring Manufacturer and I watch as 5 Tractor Trailer loads a day take there wood scraps to the county landfill to let them deal with the refuse. Of course they pay to use the landfill. If I could come up with a Idea that they could implicate to recycle at least 50% of this waist it would help me sleep better at night knowing that so much wood is not being waisted.

It's about 50,000 SQUARE FEET of waist a day. 15,500,000 SQ FT /year

So Much wood waisted it has to be a crime.
Dec 21st 2007 18:03   

Not Here  just want my account deleted
hmmm...what type of flooring are they producing? Is it solid wood or laminate? Regardless...100% of this waste could more than likely be utilized as one simple product...Biomass
Dec 21st 2007 18:35   

Eric Smith   Online Professional
WOW... what a waste...

I even got sick of taking load after load of tree waste to the dump so i bought an industrial strength shredder. I know shred the waste and leave for customers or take it with me, compost it and use it later or sell it.

The funny thing is dumping it is no doubt costing the company while they could value add to it and profit from it...

Intelligence is a learned thing...
Dec 21st 2007 18:47   

Not Here  just want my account deleted
Eric thats really not all that uncommon...esspecially in the US. The mills in Canada have been forced to become smarter and leaner due to tariffs and such...unfortunate they become this way for the wrong reasons, but at least they have gotten better regardless...hopefully they will continue to get better and they will if more people understand both the industry and the enviromental impacts....AND ACT ON IT!

Google "logging and sawmill journal" if you can't find at least 10 ideas to take to the bank you didn't look very hard at what is out there. I'll see if I can find some specific articles later when I have a minute.
Dec 21st 2007 18:59   

Jan aka Jaz Green   
I love challenges like this. If you knew an Old School Asian, they are excellent at creating entirely new items from recycled material.
Dec 27th 2007 17:31   

Jan aka Jaz Green   
Here is an enzine article that may help your flooring waste delimma ( http://ezinearticles.com/?Reclaim-Or-Recycle-Flooring!&id=1988820 )
Jul 31st 2009 13:28   

U.S. Pride Home Specialists   
I have once pondered this myself. We had a ton of sawdust in huge piles and nothing to do with it. We decided to make fire starters. Like the fire logs you buy in stores except 100% recycled. You just melt down wax (can be old candles) and mix with sawdust. Then you press into a mold. Viola! 100% RECYCLED. Where we live you can buy candles dirt cheap at auctions or garage sales. Sometimes by the box for a few dollars! If you use a fire place or know people who do (wrap them up to give as gifts) this will be a great way to re-use the wood chips yourself.
Mar 14th 2010 16:01   

Jan aka Jaz Green   
Eric, how wood (smile) one contact the guy "who makes small wooden bird cages, letterboxes, dog kennels, cat scratching poles and the like" ?
Aug 11th 2010 10:20