A Maryland sawmill, Cambium Carbon, is giving new life to trees considered garbage.
Thanks to a Maryland sawmill, storm debris can now become carbon-neutral furniture.
Cambium Carbon picks up trees bound for the dump and takes them to their plant, where they are transformed into pieces of furniture.
Two friends initially started a side hustle, collecting fallen trees. Now they are working with architects, cities and businesses across the country.
The company works only with fallen trees and debris and not with timber deliberately felled.
"It's like Christmas every time you cut one of these things open. You have no idea what you're going to get," said John Ferrara, the company's director of milling operations.
Logs are power-washed, then cut and shaped.
"A lot of times that material is viewed as a defect and we really like to turn that narrative around and be able to educate people that it's actually something to celebrate and something to enjoy," said Paul Timmins, who co-owns the sawmill with Ferrara.
As part of their business plan, the partners also plant trees in communities where they salvage logs.
