There's Cash In That Trash
Our Premiere Profit Driven Circularity Program
There’s Cash in That Trash was created out of a simple, yet big, bold question: Why build the circular supply chain one company at a time, when you can scale impact by focusing on one industry at a time?
Especially if the goal is putting the waste to work for the benefit of the businesses’ bottom line, we need to solve this problem from a holistic perspective.
This is just practical. Profits pay for groceries, raises, healthcare, and capital equipment.
No profits = No jobs.
One of the best examples of a profit driven circular supply chain comes from the metals industry. Metal scrap is routed back into the manufacturing stream because everyone makes a little money for their efforts, and that money comes from trade not taxes.
But who would be the next industry to innovate?
Taking The Lead
The Woodworking and Furniture Industry is the first to implement this innovative program.
In July 2024, The Association of Woodworking and Furniture Suppliers, and Supply Chains for Good launched, “There’s Cash in that Trash” program to design, and implement profit driven sustainability. This program benefits manufacturers of wood, and furniture products, and their suppliers of goods, services and machinery.
How it Works
Typical woodworking and furniture industry waste includes wood, upholstery fabric, foam, metal, and plastics, but our research has shown that the highest volume of waste that the industry is dealing with is mixed wood waste which has resins, finishes, and bits of plastics like laminates in it.
Mixed wood waste, unlike pure wood waste, has limited uses so we are focusing on solving that problem first.
The solutions we’ve found that can use tons of wood waste are construction materials such as lightweight concrete, insulation and synthetic wood, and to burn it to generate power, a process called, “Biomass”. The simplest, most obvious solution for the factory producing wood waste is to use it to generate their own power. This waste to energy solution is very attractive to business owners because it eliminates their utility and waste disposal bills, both of which are rising costs.
Burn It! What About Air Quality?
Concerns about waste to energy are centered around air quality, however technology has been developed to solidly address this concern. We are intentionally implementing in Southern California first to assure we meet the area’s exceptionally high air quality standards.
MDF and Particle Board Are Circular Products
The waste from the tree is routed back into the manufacturing process to make a new product that reduces how many natural resources, like trees, are extracted. This was developed as a profitable use for wood waste in the 20th century.
80%+
Of the power used by California’s timber industry is generated through their own on-site waste to energy operations.
Electrification
In California there’s a great deal of concern about the ability of the power grid to support state plans to electrify the heavy weight fleet. This would reduce strain on power infrastructure by taking entire manufacturing facilities off the grid.
Supporting Skilled Trade Education
Both the Association of Woodworking and Furnishing Suppliers, and Supply Chains for Good are committed to helping children so we are also connecting manufacturers to K through 12 skilled trade programs to donate materials to be used by students. This is a solution for only a small amount of waste but we are also connecting employers to future employees, and educators.
Get Involved
Contact us today to learn more on how to implement There’s Cash In That Trash within your business or organization.
