RE: Sustainability. REsponsibly using the entire tree.
Ever wonder how round trees become square pieces of lumber? And, where does the rest of the tree go? Read on to see exactly how GP's lumber and plywood operations at Prosperity, S.C., efficiently use every part of the tree.
Rolling in:
The journey actually begins in the woods with harvesting of trees. While GP doesn't own forest land, we require that wood we procure comes from trained loggers who follow forest best management practices (BMPs).We specify length and diameter for the logs we buy so we can maximize the use of the tree for the highest-valued products.
Bark:
Once unloaded, the bark is removed using a ring debarker, a machine with knives on concentric arms. This bark is burned in the plant's boilers, which provides steam to dry lumber and plywood. Burning bark means using less natural gas.
Lumber And Plywood:
The lumber mill uses lasers to map each log and computers to figure out what size boards to cut so that the entire tree is used. The logs are turned into 4 x 4s, 2 x 4s, 2 x 6s and 1 x 4s. Plywood is made by peeling a log on a special machine called a lathe – it unrolls the wood off a tree like you unroll a roll of paper towels. The lathe peels the veneer or strips in thicknesses ranging from .085 to .185 of an inch. These thin strips are then glued together to make a panel that is a lot stronger than the individual strips. The remaining cores are then sent to the sawmill, where they are converted into fence posts, landscaping timbers or lumber.
Scraps:
Parts of the log that are not used for lumber or plywood, including the leftover rounded edges from the logs, are chipped and sold to pulp mills. The final or finishing stage of the plywood process also produces trim that is chipped and sold to produce medium density fiberboard or particleboard.
Sawdust:
The saws at Prosperity generate sawdust. That sawdust isn't swept into the trash. Nope, the sawdust is captured and sold to make particleboard and medium density fiberboard.
