Sustainability

Made with what already exists.

We're a tiny shop, so we won't pretend our footprint is zero. What we can promise is that we don't cut down trees to make boards, we don't ship plastic, and we don't throw out wood we can still use.

Where the wood comes from

• · Barn deconstructions in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties.
• · Fallen and storm-damaged trees from private properties (no fresh cuts).
• · Mill offcuts from a small family operation in Fillmore.
• · Old fencing and pallet wood from local farms — denailed by hand.

What happens to the scraps

Roughly 8% of every plank ends up as offcuts. We use them for the coaster sets, gift tags, and small candle bases. Sawdust goes to a nearby chicken farm for bedding. The handful of pieces that are truly unusable get split for firewood.

Packaging

Orders ship in unbleached kraft paper, jute twine, and a corrugated box we reuse when it arrives in good shape. No plastic film, no foam, no printed inserts. The only thing that isn't recyclable is the tape on the outer box, which is paper-backed and compostable.

Finishes

We finish food-contact pieces with food-grade walnut and mineral oil. Non-food pieces get a hardwax oil from a small German maker. Nothing we use is solvent-based.

We're not certified anything. The above is what we actually do, day to day, in our workshop. If you have specific questions about a piece, email us at local@washwellbio.com.