4 minute read
For the MTL B-Board company, balance is essential. So, if every board sold inevitably means that a tree has been cut down, the company is committed to planting a tree in return.
“I always want to do more for the environment, explains Nicolas Loiselle, president and founder of MTL B-Board. So we decided to double our efforts.”
Already, MTL B-Board uses recycled wood to build its products. For Nicolas, this circular economy business model was an essential condition when he launched his company in 2018. The businessman therefore reached many agreement with manufacturers from Québec and ontario.
“I came across companies that generated a lot of industrial wood waste, so I made an agreement with them to manage their waste.”
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Every week, he makes the rounds to harvest the wood with which he will build his balance boards. One of the companies has even agreed to pre-cut the remaining wood to facilitate the production of the boards.
“It’s a win-win situation, he explains. I buy their waste from them and save them labor and costs for the collection. Now, we even do the laser cutting directly in the scrap wood in order to be more efficient.”
Not only does MTL B-Board build its boards from recycled wood, the company will also help plant more than 4204 trees starting in April. It is in St-Denis-de-Brompton, via the company Compensation CO2 Québec, that these promised trees will be planted.
“They choose white spruce because they are weather-resistant trees that grow very quickly and sequester a lot of CO2.”
Exceptionally, Montréal B-Board will be planting more trees than boards have been sold this year. Nicolas Loiselle wanted to admit that 10% of his sales (4204 boards) came from non-recycled wood since the demand was too high at one point when he passed on the popular TV Show “Dragon’s Den”. For this reason, he committed to plant 2 trees for each board sold that was not made from recycled wood.
The Penny shape : eco-responsible and fun
Over the past few months, Montréal B-Board has introduced a new product: the penny shape. Designed for ages 13 and under, it allows Nicolas Loiselle to waste as little as possible.
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“On the one hand, we wanted to create a product for younger kids that would help the parents entertain them during this pandemic, he says. But we wanted recuperate more wood and sometimes, the piece were too small to make a board. So we created a product that would require smaller patterns so that we could recover more wood!”
The Penny Shape is kind of the little sister or brother of the Wake Shape .This new board for kids is 47 centimeters long and 23 centimeters wide, while the Wake Shape is 66 centimeters long.
If you missed our profile on MTL B-Board, you should definitely give it a read. To learn more about Montréal B-Board and its initiatives, visit the company’s website right here.