Making Use of the Discarded: Cambium's Innovative Approach to Waste Wood Utilization with AI

Lumbering around neglected wood resources, Cambium, a dynamic start-up, fosters a sustainable approach to wood utilization. Their ingenious venture offer a solution to an ever-evolving concern – converting waste wood into lucrative lumber whilst minimizing environmental footprint. Co-founded by Ben Christensen, Marisa Repka, and Theo Hooker, Cambium bridges the gap between wasted wood and its potential prospects.

Christensen, who has deep-rooted respect for trees stemming from his timber-rich New Mexican upbringing, identified the driving issue for wood wastage: coordination. Tree care services, prioritizing efficiency, frequently choose the quickest disposal route – shredding or burning the wood. Cambium disrupts this pattern with software linking various stages in the supply chain, enabling tree care services to conveniently offload logs to places that can repurpose them.

The start-up’s product line doesn’t stop at furniture-grade lumber. It has ventured into the production of cross-laminated timber - an engineered wood formed into panels in collaboration with manufacturers such as Mercer Mass Timber, SmartLam, Sterling Structural, and Vaagen Timbers.

But Cambium’s unique approach is not purely business oriented, it also focuses on the larger canvas of climate change. Every tree that’s salvaged and used locally instead of transported over long distances, refrains from adding more carbon to the environment. For Cambium, it’s about striking a balance between fulfilling the commercial demands and acting responsibly towards the planet. This synergy between economics and ecology positions Cambium as a key player in pushing the boundaries of conventional wood usage.