Logo: Unified Wood Economy

PROJECT

Memphis Urban Wood

Memphis,
 Tennessee
Man dressed for construction moving 12" boards of wood
The Works Inc. Room & Board Classic American Hardwood Anderson Tully Woodland Tree Service City Wood Tennessee Department of Agriculture and Division of Forestry USDA Forest Service
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Memphis is known for music, catfish and amazing BBQ, but Memphis is also a city of trees seldom matched by other U.S. Cities. When those trees come down due to age or disease, a weather event or development, the vast majority of the tree is taken to a landfill. The cost of disposal, the release of carbon in those trees as they rot, and the loss of job-creating revenue are a lyric worthy of delta blues.

The Problem:

Approximately 200,000 tons of wood waste is collected in Memphis and Shelby County, TN each year. A tree is 50% carbon. Every ton of wood waste releases 1,000 lbs of carbon as it rots. As the wood rots, the carbon combines with oxygen creating 3,600 lbs of CO2—going back into the atmosphere where it contributes to climate change.

Equally problematic is the loss of revenue from wood waste—both as durable products and the jobs connected to producing wood products (flooring to furniture) and wood by-products. Memphis communities with high unemployment rates lack equitable access to economic opportunities and the employment highway in particular.

Stacks of reclaimed logs in a row down the side of a road

Our Solution:

Unified Wood Economy and The Works, Inc (an NGO Community Development Corporation), and Woodland Tree Company is building a SCALED supply chain for downed trees from Memphis and Shelby County into carbon-capturing products such as lumber, compost, and mulch. Biochar production is also in development.

Man dressed for construction moving 12" boards of wood

The campus is designed to be zero-waste facility as well as revenue-generating so that it becomes a self-sufficient model that will also support local tree-planting efforts.

Check out the Memphis Urban Wood website.

Memphis Urban Wood logo

"The good folks at Unified Wood Economy truly understand the opportunity and the circularity of urban wood. Highest use, in highest volumes for the longest period of time, to extract maximum value. And practice what they preach."
Mike Larrivee, P.G. | Director of Sustainable Initiatives, The Works, Inc.