Capture the CarbonOur journey first started in 2001 after a devastating house fire. Receiving insurance money only on our contents, we were left with the smell of smoke throughout the house. After deciding to tear down the walls, we purchased our first sawmill. With 10 acres, there was an abundance of fallen trees and Sidney had helped a local farmer when he was young who gifted us with barn beams and barn board. Our little home today has siding, flooring, doors, beams, headers, window panes 7 and a water fall!
Sidney continued to sawmill part time on and off over the course of the next 10 years. He fell in love with the wood of course, but he truly loved all of the great people and all the great experiences that he encountered along the way.
Tragedy again, but for the people of Toronto and across Canada. The iconic “Maple Leaf Forever Tree” had been taken down by a severe wind storm. Community members insisted on having the wood repurposed and held several round tables discussions on the many uses this tree could have. We were fortunate enough to be the company commissioned by the city of Toronto to sawmill this tree into hundreds of amazing products.
The media did an absolutely amazing job of telling the story of this iconic tree. So good in fact, that the phone calls kept coming in day by day, from people all over Canada wanting to share their stories of how a certain tree or treed property can mean so much and wanted advice on certain projects for their fallen trees.
We also learned that the city of Toronto had tens of thousands of trees coming into wood diversion lots from storms, disease and development. Furniture makers, firewood producers and artisans were taking some of this wood but over 95 % was still being chipped and going to landfill and we thought, we can help with that!
After hitting a few bumps along the way, well maybe a lot of bumps, we knew we had to be in the city. After working with Toronto and Region Conservation & Partners in Project Green so closely over the years, they offered us the idea of a revenue share pilot project on one of their vacant lands in Mississauga.
We are very proud and privileged to now be operating out of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authorities & Canada’s first -Tree and Wood Recovery Center. The pilot we are running is to recover and repurpose trees, offer a free drop off service to tree fellers, provide portable and on-site sawmilling, kiln drying, planning and finishing and eventually to repurpose the sawdust and wood shavings. Our customers are individuals, business, municipalities, developers, furniture makers, bowl turners & artisans and local wood re-manufacturing companies.
We will not only be conserving trees, but hope to capture tonnes of carbon in in the years to come. When wood is not chipped it offers a carbon locking opportunity for the life of the product. So a normal sized kitchen table would carbon lock 55 kg of carbon.
Helping build sustainable communities is at the top of our priority list, so donating wood back into the communities that we work in, is something that we take pride in.