Utilizing more potential “trash”

Max Taubert does not pick up trash, though what he does collect for a living might otherwise end up in a landfill somewhere.   

Taubert is the founder of Duluth Timber Company in Duluth, Minnesota, and his business is reclaimed wood. When a building is ready to be torn down, and it is made from certain types of what is known as “old growth” timbers, Taubert will travel as far as Australia to inspect the wood and stake his claim. He deals mainly in “soft” woods, such as Heart Pine and Douglas Fir. But on occasion he’ll find some old redwood that he just can’t pass up.

Duluth Timber Co. is very successful, though there is a lot of competition out there. The reclaimed wood business is certainly in fashion, and continues to grow. Old wood is popular with environmentalists, with those who have a sense of nostalgia, and with builders who understand the stability it offers.  Though Taubert would rather have saved the old growth forests to begin with, and would rather save many of the buildings that are being torn down, he is glad that he can at least make use of the wood the way it is.  

A porch in Monterey, California, made from reclaimed Douglas Fir.