Barton Malow, a large contractor in Southfield, has partnered with Woodchuck in Grand Rapids to divert wood waste from the Hart Solar Farm project in Oceana County south of Ludington away from landfills and into clean energy production.
Woodchuck, an AI-powered climate-tech startup, is working with Barton Malow to not only divert thousands of tons of wood waste from landfills, but also save time and resources by streamlining the waste hauling process.
The diverted material is processed and delivered to Genesee Power Station, a NorthStar Clean Energy project, where it is repurposed as biomass to generate renewable power.
The collaboration addresses one of the most significant challenges in renewable energy construction: waste management. Traditionally, pallets, cable spools, and miscellaneous wood supports would have been sent to landfills.
“Partnering with Woodchuck gives our project teams a real opportunity to put waste diversion into practice on a large scale,” says Jill Katic, senior sustainability director at Barton Malow.
“Not only does this help us reduce environmental impact, but it also provides quantifiable reporting we can use in our greenhouse gas inventories and annual sustainability reports.”
For Woodchuck, the partnership reflects its mission to eliminate construction waste from landfills and create renewable energy streams.
“By coordinating hauling, shredding, and processing on-site, we make the logistics easier for builders while ensuring that every pallet and piece of wood debris is diverted into clean energy production instead of buried in a landfill,” says Todd Thomas, CEO of Woodchuck.
NorthStar Clean Energy, which utilizes the repurposed biomass, sees the project as a demonstration of how collaboration across industries can drive measurable sustainability outcomes.
The Hart Solar Farm project, which spans more than four square miles, has already diverted nearly 500 tons of wood waste that was converted into 38M BTU, enough energy to power 16 Detroit homes for a month (or equal to 824 tons of CO2e, the equivalent of taking 180 cars off the road for a year).
Woodchuck adds the project proves that the company’s model can be scaled to support large construction projects.
For more information, visit woodchuck.ai.
