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Surely this is madness. Trees are a resource. And now someone has figured that out.

In one corner of the yard, “Sawmill” Sid Gendron and his daughter Sasha Gendron lift an ash log the diameter of a telephone poll onto a portable red sawmill. The mill’s blade, a band that spins on two spools, whirrs to life. Mr. Gendron slowly pushes the saw through the log. In a few minutes he has cut a plank, boarded by what connoisseurs call a “live edge” of rugged bark.

“These logs are phenomenal,” says Mr. Gendron. And this is not just reuse; when Mr. Gendron cuts a tree for planks, he saves the city up to $108 a tonne.

“Forestry wants to get rid of the trees as cheaply as possible,” says Rob McMonagle, a senior advisor in the city’s Green Economy division. “It’s 50,000 tonnes of dead trees that the city has to process.”

After last year’s ice storm, Toronto ground huge quantities of old-grown beech, oak, maple, ash and other logs into chips. Mr. McMonagle called that a waste, saying, “We should look at trees as we look at a side of beef. Every part has value.” Not long after, Mr. Gendron approached the city to reuse the logs. Though no money is changing hands, Mr. McMonagle worked months to arrange the pilot project. Today he is excited.

“We’re open for business,” he says. “You submit a proposal, we will look at it.”

Sawmill Sid sold two truckloads of ash lumber he milled in Scarborough to Weston Forest, a Mississauga company. Weston Forest supplies lumber to steel makers and equipment manufacturers for skids, pallets and crates to pack machinery.