Overview
The City of Ann Arbor is embarking on an innovative partnership with Urban Ashes to repurpose storm-damaged and diseased trees that were previously turned into mulch or compost. Instead of wasting the wood, a new program will send these trees to a lumber mill, where the materials can be transformed into furniture, flooring, and other wood products. Urban Ashes will play a key role by connecting these logs with manufacturers who can make use of the wood, ensuring that this natural resource is used sustainably and efficiently.Paul Hickman, CEO of Urban Ashes, highlights the overlooked value of trees after they have been felled. While the ecological benefits of planting and maintaining trees are widely recognized, Hickman emphasizes the environmental impact wood can have once it’s down. Wood continues to sequester carbon for hundreds of years if used properly, playing a crucial role in reducing emissions. To track this, each log will be assigned a QR code that records how much carbon the tree sequesters. Urban Ashes will report these carbon savings to the city, which can integrate them into Ann Arbor’s carbon reduction goals.The potential impact of this initiative is significant. In Michigan alone, an estimated 1.7 million metric tons of urban wood—equivalent to about 263 million board feet—are wasted each year through chipping, burning, or being sent to landfills. This loss results in the release of carbon that could otherwise be trapped for long periods. If the state could capture just 40% of this wood for use, it would equate to planting approximately 2.8 million trees and growing them for ten years, avoiding over 422,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions.Nationally, the potential is even greater, with 46 million metric tons of urban wood waste each year. If captured and repurposed, this could sequester around 3.84 million metric tons of carbon, avoiding 14 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. Capturing just a portion of this waste could have an impact equivalent to planting tens of millions of trees.
Hickman has ambitious plans to expand this program across Michigan and beyond, having engaged in discussions with the Washtenaw County Road Commission and other cities in the region. His vision involves scaling this urban wood recovery model to significantly reduce emissions and waste on a local and national scale.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and Tree Town is looking to do more with a good deal of the wood it produces rather than let it go to waste. I’m David Fair, and welcome to this week’s Issues of the Environment. The City of Ann Arbor is partnering with Urban Ashes to repurpose more wood–wood from storm damaged trees and diseased trees–and turn it into both environmental and economic benefit. Our guest this morning is Urban Ashes CEO Paul Hickman. First of all, I’d like to get an idea of the scope of the issue. How significant an issue are storm damaged trees and diseased trees on an annual basis in Ann Arbor?
Paul Hickman: Ann Arbor specifically loses about 600 trees a year and to kind of give you a scope, which is about average for a city that size. And they focus on planting about a thousand trees a year, which is pretty good as well. But also, we were able to do some data research for them and come up with information that showcases that the volume of trees that are lost, particularly the larger trees, it would take them planting about 18,000 trees a year to make up for that carbon–and growing those for ten years–to make up for the carbon that is lost each year from those 600 trees. And that’s mainly because of the volume or the size of the trees–the volume of the tree itself.
David Fair: Well, can deadwood sequester enough carbon to help reduce emissions?
Paul Hickman: Absolutely! Wood, whether it’s alive or dead, particularly hardwood, contains about 50% carbon by weight on average. And so, we’re looking at roughly salvaging about 150 trees a year or logs per year. And within Ann Arbor itself, that would equate to adding about another 1500 to 2000 trees as far as the carbon and CO2 goes. So, it’s kind of like them planting a thousand trees, but now with salvaging those trees and keeping that wood in use, as long as that was in use, that carbon stays sequestered. So, the carbon and CO2 equivalent are more than doubling the planting. So, it really supports or is an additional benefit in the carbon and CO2 aspect along with planting trees. But really, the environmental benefits of a tree are greater after they have come or after they have lived there. They live their life because the carbon within that tree then stays sequestered indefinitel,y as opposed to an urban tree. It’s average life is 50, 60 years at best. But if you keep that wood and use that carbon stays sequestered in, the CO2 emissions are not released. It is only that wood is still used.
David Fair: For those who are unfamiliar with what you do, when we talk about repurposing trees, you have managed to create a variety of products at urban ashes, from furniture to signs, all of which are exquisitely beautiful. What is the scope of repurposing this wood?
Paul Hickman: I’m extremely happy you asked that because it’s been a little bit of a challenge in explaining to folks the transition we’ve made. As you mentioned, historically, we were a manufacturer of picture frames and furniture and a variety of other things. But in 2019, we did shut down our manufacturing, and we have shifted our focus entirely on building infrastructure. So mainly, what we’re working with are at the two ends of the supply chain: accessing and making sure that the logs or the trees that are coming down or when they do come down are made available to local mills. And so, that is on the front end of everything. We are working with logs specifically. And then, on the back end or the very end of the supply chain, we are working with manufacturers, designers and architects to make sure that we expand the urban wood markets and product lines that are out there. So, we ultimately have places for this wood to go. We are no longer manufacturing anything. We are basically facilitating that. The supply chain is much more efficient, and the logs, in particular, get into the supply chain and that they’re ultimately used to their highest and best use.
David Fair: Our Issues of the Environment conversation with Urban Ashes CEO Paul Hickman continues on 89 one WEMU. With the lessons in hand that you’ve learned over the past 25 years about repurposing wood, how is the partnership with the City of Ann Arbor going to work?
Paul Hickman: This being our pilot model, the best way to describe it is there’s been about two and a half, three years or so in developing this. Part of it is because it’s an initial model. We are building the systems as we’re going here. In this very first one, we did receive a grant from the state of Michigan to help develop those systems. And so, it’s very similar to–the best way to describe it, particularly in Ann Arbor, for those who are familiar with recycling programs in general for plastic, metal and glass–it’s very similar to that. So, we will be diverting the wood from either the chipper or the burn pile in the landfill. And when the city gets us those trees, those become materials that we make sure get out to mills out in the general area or in the southeastern Michigan area. And part of those proceeds go back to the city as well. So, there’s some benefits to the city financially that way to help offset some of their costs. But also the big part is, is we’re tracking those trees. As soon as those trees come down, they get tagged with a QR code in partnership with the city. They actually are the ones doing the tagging. There’s some training and some definite buy in from the city itself and the crews. They get tagged with the QR code that gets scanned, goes into a software that now tracks all that wood and identifies the volume of carbon that’s in there and how much continues to be sequestered. So, it’s definitely a collaboration between the city, and it’s really made it possible for us to…well, we’re currently working with about 25 other cities across five states. So, developing this in Ann Arbor, they’ve been absolutely spectacular everywhere from the forestry department to the public works to the mayor and all the administration. We needed the administration, the crew and the staff. And they’ve all been really on board and helping develop this system that we can replicate in cities across the country.
David Fair: By what measurements would you use to evaluate the ultimate success of the program, both environmentally and economically?
Paul Hickman: Volume. It’ll be specifically volume of logs diverted. Therefore, then we can calculate the volume of carbon that is continued to be sequestered and the amount of CO2 that is not released. We’re providing reports back to the city on that they can include in what I haven’t mentioned–this is a very critical part of A2Zero–that they’ll be able to include those reports back into their data. So, those will be definitely the key measurements that will be tracked and reported on quarterly. The financial portion of it, both in the sales of the logs and to the city, is a small, small portion of this. It’s really mainly about making sure that these trees get utilized to their highest and best use. The value of the tree–or the log, more specifically–is really generated in the processing and the manufacturing process of local businesses adding value to them, even a large black walnut. It’s arguably our most valuable hardwood tree on the ground. A single one of those in a city is a negative or an expense to the city. It’s not considered an asset, and it really isn’t an asset until it is starting to be processed. And when you invest in that, then you can start to realize the value of that tree. So, there’s some explaining to do with the city. And I want to be clear to everybody out there. We are definitely not coming to take trees down for the sake of taking trees down. These trees are coming down, unfortunately, for end-of-life or blight-stricken or storm damaged, things like that. We’re just making sure they don’t end up in the chipper. In particular with Ann Arbor, that was historically their process. And that’s pretty consistent across the country. Most cities do chip their trees or landfill or burn them, depending. But that’s generally how it will work.
David Fair: Once again, this is 89 one WEMU, and we’re talking with Paul Hickman on Issues of the Environment. Paul is CEO of Urban Ashes, which is forging a new partnership and direction for the City of Ann Arbor. You’ve touched on it a couple of different times, but the partnership with Ann Arbor is the beginning of something much larger. You’re obviously expanding throughout the county, state and, as you mentioned, throughout the country. What does the ultimate vision look like for repurposed wood?
Paul Hickman: Ultimately, that every city or every municipality and every community–rural community–has a policy or program in place that they utilize their trees. This is something that we did 100 years ago. And prior to this, we didn’t waste our trees. When they came down, we made sure we utilized them. And unfortunately, with the introduction of transportation and other various elements that have driven that, we’ve gone away from that. So, we no longer are utilizing them. Literally, the trees in our front yard go to waste where we ship wood from across the world or across the country. And so, our goal is to really educate the country, the municipalities, all the caretakers of our urban trees. And what I refer to urban trees or urban wood, it’s a bit of a misnomer or actually is definitely a misnomer, but it’s unfortunately entrenched in the industry. But what we’re talking about are any tree that comes down for any reason other than its wood value and it can be urban, suburban or rural. So, it could even be orchard trees that age out that they’re being replaced because they’re no longer producing fruit. Obviously, storm damage, like hurricane trees that have been damaged in during climate-impacted events and things like that, those definitely still fall into that category. So, making sure that when they do come to their end of their life, that they get utilized. And our goal is to make sure that every city in the country or every location in the country is doing this. And to give you an idea of the volume, there’s roughly 46 million metric tons of what’s considered furniture-grade material or wood. It’s available every single year in the United States that is typically shipped, burned or landfilled, instead of being converted into durable wood goods. And so, we’d like to see this be implemented across the country. We’d love to be a big part of that and been involved in helping that happen. So, our idea is to be connected in with cities all over the country, as many as we possibly can.
David Fair: Well, as you mentioned, this was standard operating procedure 100 years ago. It’s a long journey to get back to the past. The amount of coordination and planning to put in place some uniformity of mission, purpose and process sounds like a significant task. Are you seeing enough work in that direction around the country to collectively realize the vision?
Paul Hickman: Yes! In the last 25 years, as you mentioned, since I got involved in this or more than that now, mid-late 90s or so. Back then, it was really a very unknown entity, and there was small pockets of it around the country, but, generally, not any major volume of that 46 million metric tons, I’d say then, maybe 1% or less was being tapped. Nobody was quantifying it. And there are some studies actually going on right now that is really identifying how much of that we’re tapping into now. But I would say the emerald ash borer in particular, unfortunately, the devastation that it has caused and continues to cause now all the way out in Oregon has killed hundreds of thousands of trees. That really brought a lot of attention to urban wood and the viability of urban wood. It’s one of those things that necessity is the mother of invention here, or there’s all kinds of cliches we can throw with that. But it’s really pushed communities to realize we have a volume of trees here that we’re losing, and it’s grown quite a bit. I would say specifically in the last 5 to 10 years, there are programs around the country. There are much larger organizations. Michigan has one of the largest urban mills in the country, and there are many others around the country that are now aware of each other and much more connected than they ever were. That was a big problem before as we were very siloed and didn’t realize what else was going on. But now, things are much more connected, and there’s a whole lot more communication going on between all the different pockets, which are now expanding, but also connecting. So, it’s becoming a much larger entity, and the U.S. Forest Service and state governments are investing in it more. And you’re seeing obviously with Ann Arbor. City governments are also investing in it. So, it’s becoming much more common practice. You asked me what my goal was, and, really, my simple answer should have been that this is the common practice. This is our standard operating procedure or our business as usual. That’s what I want to see, or Urban Ashes wants to see, across the country. I definitely see a lot of momentum.
David Fair: Thank you so much for sharing the vision and the news of progress, Paul! I appreciate it!
Paul Hickman: Thank you very much, David! Enjoy your day!
David Fair: That is Paul Hickman. He is the CEO of Urban Ashes, who is partnering with the City of Ann Arbor to repurpose storm damaged and diseased trees into something more environmentally and potentially economically beneficial. You’re going to find more information on Urban Ashes and the new program and more on the vision. Just check out our website at wemu.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Resources Commissioner and you hear it every Wednesday. I’m David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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