Overhead Door Company embraces biomass wood program
03/07/2011 12:00pm
More and more businesses and contractors are realizing that separating and recycling waste wood saves money.
Last year, for example, Overhead Door Company of Cedar Rapids & Iowa City began depositing their wood waste—including old garage doors the company replaces—in a separate dumpster.
“It took a few months but we got all our techs re-trained to separate wood from the garbage. Now we are saving money with fewer garbage pulls and at the same time have found another way to keep our product out of the landfill," says General Manager Martin Fauchier.
The company, which received the 2011 Business Recycling Award from the Iowa Recycling Association, views the effort as one more way to use resources wisely and achieve sustainability.
Waste wood is deposited at the Agency’s 2250 A Street SW location in Cedar Rapids. The material is chipped and used as fuel in power plants that formally burned coal.
“We are taking old wood cupboards, doors, and countertops—as well as lumber, tables and other wood furniture,” says Karmin McShane, Agency Executive Director. “We can take just about anything – except wood with lead-based paint or green wood that’s been treated for use in decks and landscaping.”
The tipping fee is $15 per ton for acceptable wood waste at the Cedar Rapids location compared to $38 at the County Home Road landfill north of Marion. The lower tipping fee provides an incentive to separate wood waste and deliver it to the biomass program.
