We don't let much go to waste. On average, 97 percent of each log that enters one of our mills is turned into something useful. 

Most of that is a wood product, such as lumber. Logs too small for dimensional lumber are processed into engineered wood products, such as our oriented strand board, or are used to create a whole host of other products. We actively seek partners and customers to use our wood residuals, who in turn create other useful products, including energy, mulch and much more. In 2018, more than 12 billion pounds of our residuals were reused, recycled or used for energy. 

This amazing feat is how we are able to continue to reuse or recycle 98 percent of all our waste and residuals from our mills. This means only 2 percent of our waste ends up in a landfill. Even so, we are continuing to look for ways to reduce the amount of waste generated in the first place and for additional ways our waste can be reused or recycled. Sending material to a landfill costs money and time and we know there are better solutions for the world. 


We reused 12 billion pounds of residuals in 2018 —
what does 12 billion pounds look like?


RESETTING OUR BASELINE

In 2010, we set an initial goal to reduce the amount of material we send to landfills by 10 percent (for every unit of production) by 2020 compared. After setting our goal, we saw large fluctuations in our annual numbers given the small amount of landfill-bound waste we produce, the irregularity of sending ash to landfills (ash is produced at facilities burning biomass residuals for energy), and timing of capital projects that create construction debris.

In 2015, we changed how we track waste-related data at our mills. Given the improved accuracy in data collection and the reality that landfill-bound waste is not steady from year-to-year, we decided to adjust our waste reduction goal. While we will continue to find alternative uses for our residuals and look for ways to decrease our landfill-bound waste, we reset our company-wide goal to establish a more appropriate baseline based on a consistent set of data and a five-year trend. We now have three years of consistent data collected and are analyzing trends and opportunities. 

View our residual and waste data