Sustainability

Ten Ways We Sustain Forests & the Earth

This is where lots of companies put vague, AI-generated text about how they are committed to helping the planet. Instead, we're giving you 10 real ways are small company is making at least a small difference.

1. We plant thousands of trees

We regularly donate to Green Forests Work, a Kentucky-based organization that has planted millions of trees in the Appalachians, where our oak, maple, and cherry lumber comes from. This year on Earth Day we donated enough to plant about 667 little trees.

2. Treeboard recycles—really 

The dirty little secret of most businesses is that they don't recycle (they don't want the hassle and it costs them money). We know it's a problem because we're one of the few businesses around our area with a recycling dumpster  (2 cubic yards).
 

3. Our lumber is sustainable 

Ninety percent of our lumber comes from a single mill in Pennsylvania that proudly sells wood that is both Certified Appalachian Hardwood Sustainable and Certified Appalachian Hardwood Legal. We don't use tropical woods, which often come from rainforests or areas where illegal logging is rampant.
 

4. The oil & wax are organic, not petrochemical based

We like other plants besides trees. Our linseed oil comes from organically grown flax, and our carnauba wax is extracted from a Brazilian palm. (Most other waxes and pastes contain petroleum oil as a hidden ingredient.)
 

5. We’re American made and supplied

It costs a lot to ship wood back and forth around the world, so we use regional forests and products whenever we can to reduce our transportation footprint. Even our cardboard boxes are made only a few miles away from the Maryland workshop.
 

6. Paper and recyclable packaging

Speaking of boxes, we use cardboard, recycled kraft paper and old-school paper tape so you can recycle the packing  materials easily when you get your cutting board.
 

7. Efficient delivery routes

We ship directly to your door via UPS or the U.S. Postal Service. More and more we use a combination of UPS's efficient network to get packages to your neighborhood and USPS for the final delivery, since the mail carrier probably goes to your address every day anyway. 
 

8. Energy-efficient workshop

We just had LED lighting installed in our workshop this year, and Treeboard uses efficient three-phase power for its big table saw and sanding machine. We use fans rather than air conditioning and have a single natural-gas heater for the cold mornings in winter and spring.

9. Boards can last for many years

Unlike thinner wooden cutting boards or soft plastic ones, ours can often last for many years with proper care, and we include instructions for keeping them at their best. So feel free to break out the sandpaper, renew your board's surface, and help preserve Appalachian forests for the future.

10. Waste helps horses, chickens and scouts

Treeboard's sawdust goes to family chickens, to gardens that need mulch and even to the stalls of a public horse stable. Scrap wood is burned in barbecue grills around the area, and we're trying to give the latest stack to Scouting America. Let us know if you work with a scout troop in need!