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Behind a locked gate labeled “Urban Forestry” on Unwin Avenue in the Port of Toronto roars a huge and terrifying machine. As big as a transport truck, this blue steel, Oregon-built Peterson 6700B is what its owner, Walker Industries, calls a “horizontal high-speed grinder.” The City of Toronto’s Solid Waste division, which contracted the services of the machine, calls it a “tub grinder.”

As I watch this week, a new yellow Volvo front-end loader seizes huge oak, maple, birch and ash logs, many thicker than phone poles, from an epic pile. The Volvo dumps the logs in the grinder. With a metallic growl, the machine’s big teeth chew the trunks to shreds. A conveyor belt spits the shreds into a growing mound at the far end of the yard.

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“We’re much more ramped up because of the ice storm,” says Mike Watt, executive vice-president of Walker Environmental Group. “Everybody’s looking for grinders.”

Never in Toronto’s history has a storm exacted such a toll on our forest. Still, does it make sense to grind all these trees up for mulch? Many in the city’s forestry sector, which employs 25,000 people, are pleading for a more creative approach to reusing one of Canada’s most famous and historic resources: our trees. We can transform the trees into furniture, flooring, or even burn them to keep warm. The City of Chicago, for example, in recent years has begun selling its street trees for reuse.