Why are these products a better environmental choice than flooring from conventional retail operations? Would this be a better alternative than bamboo or cork?

Wood products from Urbanwood.org are made from a resource that would otherwise be thrown away. When you purchase conventional wood products, you typically get no assurance that the lumber or flooring is made from trees from sustainably-managed forests. You also have no idea where that product was manufactured. Did you know that the U.S. is a net importer of wood products? Our local urban wood products are made right in your own community by local manufacturers. Your dollars help create jobs in Southeast Michigan.

Bamboo and cork floors are recognized green building materials. They're produced from rapidly renewable resources and can sometimes provide a positive alternative to conventional products. However, these alternatives still require harvesting of new materials. Urban wood products are made from trees that will be removed anyway. In addition, there is a much lower ecological footprint on local products, which require only a fraction of the transportation burden (and therefore create far fewer emissions) than products shipped from halfway around the world. For example, the ash wood demonstration floor at Recycle Ann Arbor is made entirely from trees harvested right from neighborhoods in the Ann Arbor area. These trees were processed in Whitmore Lake and installed by an Ann Arbor area company.