CaraGreen pounds the sustainability drum pretty hard, bestowing the virtues of recycled content, local manufacture, recyclability and human health on the architect and design community through lunch and learns and product education. But what happens when a product's sustainability comes into question?
This lends itself to a larger question of how CaraGreen can continue to grow as a business if we only support products that have recycled content and the defined metrics that have come to be known as “green.” We have come to realize, over time, that the true definition of sustainability and stewardship goes beyond finite thinking when it comes to percentages and distances.
reSAWN Timber hardwoods is a great example of a product that we had to investigate more carefully to truly understand its environmental play. And when we did, we were pleasantly surprised.
Using wide plank hardwoods is super trendy right now. But did you know it can also result in much higher yields from the tree? Resulting in less waste during manufacture.
Further, responsibly harvested woods, which, in our opinion, all forestry should be these days, can have a positive environmental impact.
White Oak products use a three ply system, where the bottom layer is also white oak, but it is the white oak that is not surface grade and would therefore typically be left behind or forced through some additional processing. reSAWN takes that material and uses it to stabilize the thick wear layer on the face of the plank, resulting in less waste and a more stable product.
We have learned over the years that there is no perfect product, and we strive to find the ones that we believe do the most for the environment in their category. Sometimes you have to look beyond the numbers to find the story, but for all of our products, there is a story, and there are always people behind our products that believe they are doing what they can for the environment and the health of those that live in it.
