Wood Waste Survey for All Ontario Woodworkers

At the Wood Manufacturing Cluster of Ontario (WMCO) Networking Event on January 25 in Kitchener, Ontario, the not-for-profit wood manufacturing cluster organization announced its upcoming events. They led by disclosing that the WMCO and Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) Wood Waste survey was to be sent to members in early February. It’s integral to the woodworking community and will bring value to all woodworking citizens in Ontario. Filling out the short survey will support all of our sectors and we urge all members to complete it. The desired objective is to identify the type of waste, volumes, and locations of these wood waste sources in Ontario.

Mike Baker, chief executive officer of WMCO, explained “our cluster model is based on all segments of wood manufacturing including cabinetry, commercial millwork, furniture, and component manufacturing. We wanted to identify the different kinds of wood waste that exist from all of the manufacturing operations in Ontario. Our cluster represents the largest concentration of wood manufacturing in Canada and there’s about $6.6 million worth of manufacturing in Ontario alone and that will generate a large percentage of different kinds of waste. Our mission is to create a source of revenue for our manufacturers for the wood waste that they’re producing.”

WMCO and MNRF Survey On Wood Waste May Not Be the Last

The industry cluster involves the wood industry, in a defined region focused solely on manufacturing. The WMCO embraces the supply chain and has worked with the MNRF on several initiatives in the past in an effort to help the industry thrive. The survey is a prime example of their collaborative effort to support the sector.

“The survey will help identify what type of wood waste is being produced, where it’s being produced, and what the volumes are and we’ll be able to make a geo map of where all of the different waste locations are situated in Ontario. Once we get a picture of that, then we will be working with startups that want to purchase various types of wood waste,” illustrates Baker. “From the survey, we’d like to see our members who put their waste out in their dumpsters or yards have it get picked up and that they get paid for it.”

That is just one ideal that WMCO and MNRF have for the survey. Baker states “the other win would be that the waste is diverted from landfill and can extend our productivity here in Ontario.” The survey is still ongoing until the end of February and encourages any Ontario citizen that produces any type of wood product to complete it. The WMCO has been developing the survey with the MNRF over the past six months and expects to have complete results and analysis in four months’ time. However, it’s likely not to end there. “What will probably happen is that we’ll take a look at our first round of data and conduct the survey a second time just to ensure that we get as much data as possible,” concludes Baker.