Bridges Environmental’s story started with a man named LK Sloan who saw piles of wood waste and saw its potential beauty. In essence he saw that ashes could indeed be turned into beauty. For all of us, this should be an inspiration that one person can be a great source of good and change things for the next generation. Here is the story told in short from LK Sloan: Read More
“Once upon a time, not too long ago an old furniture artisan had an idea. This idea was so big that it was hard for anyone to actually believe it could possibly be accomplished. The old craftsman spent most his time finding solace in his work in his small wood shop, where he would spend his time creating unique and often beautiful “one-of-a-kind” pieces of furniture out of wood that was left over from a construction site or had been thrown into a waste bin. As time went on, his wood supply decreased. He would have to travel and search further away from his little town.
The story actually come down to one very important meeting between the weathered craftsman and a younger First Nations man. The old fellow called him Ben. The young man had seen some of the furniture that old woodsman crafted and told him it was cool. Ben had an appetite to learn and one day as he visited the old artist’s shop, he asked if his craft could be taught to him. Ben said, I will bring you wood for your time. The old man agreed and a bargain was struck that day that would soon be the beginning to not only a close friendship, but a partnership that was about to create a company whose name would someday be known around the world for stopping the burning of massive amounts of wood in British Columbia.
As the old craftsman worked with the old gnarled and worn wood that Ben had brought him, he was surprised to find such beauty underneath the beaten surface. As he scraped and ground on the old pieces of wood with all the energy he could find within himself, something started to be revealed. As he removed the layers of torn and weathered surface he was able to see something develop from the efforts of his work. The old woodsman said, son where do you get such wood as this. He told the old fellow that he collected it from an old used logging bridge. What he began to expose that day, would not only change his simple life, but bring about change throughout the entire forest industry’s practice, that had been customary over the past one hundred years.
So you must be wondering how all this came about?
The first piece of furniture was completed. It was the first piece of furniture fashioned from the old bridge, that he knew of. As the old artisan’s wood supply depleted, he asked around where he could obtain more of this so called, bridge wood. He was told to talk to Canfor Forest Products. He ended up at a Canfor’s woodland office asking if he could obtain some of the old wood. To the forestry manager it seemed to be a rather strange request, but he humoured to older man by telling him he could have as much of the old wood as he wanted. They were about to start their burning program and all of the wood would be burnt by the end of the week. Upon hearing this, the old man’s heart broke. His mind began to race as he thought of what a waste and of all the needless destruction because of the words that were spoken, “You can have what you want, we’re just going to burn it anyways!” His response was immediate, “if you stop burning, I will take it all!” These simple words will reverberate from that very morning and throughout the industry and around the world.
The young manager chuckled at the old man and said, “you don’t realize what you’re saying. We burn so much of this wood you could never use it all. The old man was quick to respond by saying, if you promise me that you will stop burning that beautiful wood I will find a way to reclaim all of it and I will figure out what to do with it. So, it was on this particular morning that two different individuals were about to come to an agreement that was about to change the way the forest industry would handle the old material from replaced bridges throughout the province. Within six weeks, a formal letter of understanding was signed between the Canfor Corporation and the newly formed company that is known as Bridges Environmental Group Ltd. On the day of the signing of the agreement a relationship between the world’s largest forest company and the world’s smallest Environmental Group began that will become a story in itself.
The enormous task lay before the old craftsman as he envisioned a better future for generations to come. The stopping of burning of tons of wonderful building material, the jobs that could be created, the artisans that could be trained, and the beautiful pieces of art furniture that would be created. The question kept coming back to the old man, how could it possibly be done? How would he move the wood? Where would he put it? How could he handle such an endless supply over such a large area? These questions often followed him to sleep at night. He had been given three years to solve all the question he would have. If he could value add the old material into art furniture, he would have to come up with something totally unique, stunningly beautiful, that catches the interest of the marketplace and send a message to the world that waste could create not only attractive furniture units but create new jobs in the process. Three years have come and gone, and the old man is pleased he now seeing his vision become a reality. It has been hard and very costly, but anything that is as worth while as this project is worth every dollar spent.
