Wood Recycling
Since Hurricane Ike, the City of Houston has been trying to figure out how
to recycle the wood debris. From Galveston to North of Houston, there is
plenty of wood debris to be collected but not sent to the local landfills.
So the City has come up with a nationwide contest in hopes of someone coming
up with a recycling idea that will get rid of 5.6 million cubic yards of
tree waste cleaned up from households and front yards.
The contest will pay $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 for the top 3 ideas. Currently,
the debris is enough to fill the Astrodome nearly 4 times over. So, if you have
an idea on how to recycle all of this debris, you can submit it to recycleike@
cityofhouston.net. Visit Recycle Ike for more details.
So far, the city has given two companies 700,000 cubic yards of the wood waste
who will turn it into mulch and compost for resale. There have been other
thoughts of using it for erosion control, boiler fuel and electric generation.
Of course, other cities/companies have ponied up to the bar for wood chips.
Dallas-based Living Earth Technology Co. has agreed to accept up to 200,000
cubic yards of tree waste from Ike and package it for resale. The company will
donate 10 cents from each bag and 50 cents of every bulk yard sold to the city,
and the money will be used for Houston recycling programs.
Phoenix-based Allied Waste has agreed to take up to half a million cubic yards
of tree waste chips for composting.
And last but not least, there has been one statement that says it all.
Make toilet paper out of it and we can use it to wipe away the filth of the
Wall Street bailout.
Do you have any ideas?
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October 20th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Depending on how big the limbs are, there are a couple things they did in Greensburg. One was to have the stumps turned into art. Guys with chain saws would make them into wooden bears and such. There were also people that took the wood and made furniture out it. Mostly smaller like kitchen chairs and benches. But I know both of those were done in Greensburg. Of course this would be a lot bigger scale. (I think some was also used for mulch as well)
October 20th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Hey Linda,
While the main ideas mentioned here are great…I like the last idea best..it does say it all!
Barbaras last blog post..More Incredible News About Dome Homes !
October 20th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Hi Heath … You know what? Go and apply. Maybe you could win one of the prizes for your ideas!
Hi Barbara … I did too! Just cracked me up!
October 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Give it to Taylor guitar company and they’ll make expensive and good-sounding acoustic guitars. I can’t remember when, but a few years back they did just such an experiment — picked up some lumber from the dump and made a guitar out of it.
ari
Ari Koinumas last blog post..What I Force My Children to Learn, or Not (Digest)
October 21st, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Hi Ari … What a great idea! I am sure other guitar companies could use it as well. Thanks!
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Hi Linda – I saw this post show up on your comment the other day and having been in wood recycling, had to come by and read it.
That’s a lot of wood debris. I’ll have to check out the contest and see what I can come up with.
Your final sentence is priceless…and so true. Love it!
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..It’s All About Me – Part Two
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Hi Barbara … I bet you would win it if you entered!!! Thank you, a little humor always works!
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:38 am
Hmm…, it sounds like a very interesting green concept here.
By the way, Linda. Have you joined this competition?
wilsons last blog post..Everybody Deserves a Healthy and Great Body Shape!
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 am
Hi Wilson … As a matter of fact, I did and gave them a few ideas. However, I doubt I will win as the last time I looked, they had 5000 folks entering.