Recycling

• As with other recycling initiatives, there are countless environmental benefits to wood reuse — less strain on municipal waste management, improved air and water quality, avoided carbon emissions to name just a few.
  Forest Service (2002). Successful approaches to recycling urban wood waste. General Technical Report FLP-GTR-133, USDA Forest Products Laboratory.

Wildfire Prevention

• Urban wood waste management may also help prevent wildfires, particularly in small communities and regions experiencing higher risk of wildfire, because excess woody biomass in nearby forested areas can pose a threat to nearby homes and buildings. Blanco, J. A., Dubois, D., Littlejohn, D., Flanders, D. N., Robinson, P., Moshofsky, M., Welham, C. (2015). Fire in the woods or fire in the boiler: Implementing rural district heating to reduce wildfire risks in the forest-urban interface. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 96, 1-13.

Pest Mitigation

• Forward-thinking wood waste management programs are crucial for detecting and eliminating invasive pest outbreaks that have the ability to decimate urban forests. Bratkovich, S., Fernholz, K. (2010). Using industrial clusters to build an urban wood utilization program: A Twin Cities case study. Dovetail Partners, Minneapolis, MN.

Public Service

• Reclaimed wood can be donated to community building projects, to local artisans in return for pieces that they make, or to local schools for children to use in wood-shop classes. Heinen, K., Lawler, M., McHale, M., Peterson, N. (date unknown). Urban Wood Waste: A guide to managing your community’s resource. NC State University, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources.

Writer's Theater, Glencoe, ILHorigan Urban Forest Products, Inc.