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Rose Srock

Sherry Vietor

Business Communications 1625

26 February 2015

GOING GREEN

I have chosen to do this research paper on recycling, repurposing, and reusing wood

products. I chose going green with wood because I implement into my own life. I have never

thrown out any type of wood. I always find a new purpose to use it for. Wood has so many

qualities and uses. Not only can it be used for flooring, walls, furniture, windows, doors, and to

build homes and buildings. There are so many more uses, especially for wood that is no longer

being used for its original purpose.

COMMERCIAL USE

Recycling wood materials. Americans produced 15.84 million tons of wood waste and 33.20

million tons of yard trimmings in 2009. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, as of 2011, there are more than 500 wood-recycling centers across the country (Blue).

Most cities or counties have a place where you can bring your branches or wood scraps to be

recycled into wood mulch. Manufacturers of landscaping products and equine surfaces, as well

as producers of animal and poultry bedding recycle wood into chips. Some of the waste wood

may be made into woodchips for forest tracks, or wood pellets for surfaces of footpaths in parks.

Wood chips can also be used to power homes or power plants (Recycling). There is an emerging

market for recycled wood chip as a form of renewable fuel (Programme, n.d.).

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Repurpose and reuse of wood products. Some businesses now take

unwanted wood and repurpose or reuse for sale. Some examples may be as

simple as this picture.

PERSONAL USES

Repurpose wood materials. The possibilities of repurposing wood are endless. There are so

many different crafts one can make with large or small pieces of wood. One example, boards

can be refinished or just leave weathered, and paint quotes on to hang in

your home or out. There are numerous ideas on the internet for such

projects. This one I found on Pinterest and am currently working on for

it’s a positive, cheery reminder.

I have repurposed boards to make feeders and homes for my fine, feathered friends, birds. Here

is a wren house, a bluebird house, jelly and orange feeders:

In addition, because I am an avid bean bag player, I made my own boards. The following year, I made all my children a set with also homemade bags. Following is my first original and the children’s ‘Minnesota’ originals.

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I have also started repurposing wood pallets. There are a lot of creative ideas and uses for them.

I am building a bar out of pallets and landscaping stone this summer. I also intend to make some

signs. Last fall I completed my first pallet project in which I burned a quote, that I created, into:

I have also repurposed wood for many other things in the past. Last year I made my first potato

beds. I just used 1x1s and 2x4s. The two that I built consumed little space in my yard and I

gained 22 pounds of potatoes.

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Reuse of wood products. Refinishing wood has so many possibilities and outcomes.

Sometimes it’s a matter of stripping, sanding, and staining or painting furniture. I have

refinished multiple pieces of furniture over the years, including chairs, desks, dressers,

headboards and tables. It seems such a shame to not make an old piece of wood look beautiful

again. I prefer staining rather than painting if the wood is not damaged too badly. I have also,

used a combination as you can see in the first set of pictures. Following are only a few examples

of my recent projects:

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CONCLUSION

All wood should be recycled, repurposed, or reused. All wood materials have the possibility of

being recycled. I do not recycle wood for I use all that I acquire. However, I do use recycled

wood. I use wood chips in my gardens that surround my house. Repurposed and reused wood is

basically the same. In this report, I used repurposed as keeping the original form and fixing it. I

used reused as making something else from its original purpose. Unfortunately, not all wood,

that of which is too small, can be repurposed or reused. I use that type of wood for my summer

nights and weekends past time—camp fires. Or, I’d like to think, that it is repurposed in a way.

Its starts my larger wood that I often cook over. You could say it’s been repurposed as fire

starter and provides my open-fire cooking pit. In closure, no matter what it may be, try to

recycle, repurpose, or reuse something before you discard it. You never know how many

purposes it may hold.

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Works Cited

Blue, J. (n.d.). http://homeguides.sfgate.com/recycle-wood-79134.html. Retrieved February 25, 2015, from WEB

http://www.thereusewarehouse.com/our-mission/. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from WEB

Programme, W. &. (n.d.). http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/wood-recycling.html. Retrieved February 26, 2015, from WEB

Recycling, T. (n.d.). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_recycling. Retrieved February 25, 2015, from WEB