Urban Machine paves the way for recycled lumber

The LBM Journal
October 20, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — Urban Machine is a robotics company based in Oakland, California, that’s on a mission to redefine the green building space by reclaiming millions of tons of wood waste from construction and demolition sites and reuse them as high volume, locally sourced, premium lumber products. …As a portable system that can be brought to a demolition, The Machine can process used lumber directly on site—thus keeping it out of local landfills—and provide ready-to-use reclaimed wood. “In the U.S. alone, we throw away 37 million tons of wood waste,” said Eric Law, CEO of Urban Machine. “That’s about half of what we harvest every year.” Using detectors to pinpoint metals, The Machine removes bulk fasteners and surface materials from reclaimed lumber. The wood is held in place by shuttles while fasteners are extracted by nail and staple pickers and nail rakes. 

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