With Stephen on vacation, Allison hosts this week's episode with IDEA's Executive Director Sean. The hosts chat with IDEA board member Jay Sanderson of Backroads Reclamation about the hidden goldmine of usable wood in structures poised for demolition. We learn about the complexity of building a cost-effective supply chain and removing friction from more sustainable construction practices.
Jay's Biography:
Jay Sanderson is the founder of Backroads Reclamation and a leader in developing circular infrastructure for Canada’s built environment. With over 20 years of experience in heavy transport, logistics, and materials handling—Jay brings a systems-driven, operations-first lens to solving complex waste and recovery challenges.
In 2020, as COVID slowed industrial projects and shifted priorities across the country, Jay turned to hands-on work to stay active—dismantling a family barn that was slated to be burned.What began as a practical project quickly became a professional turning point, as he realized Canada is demolishing thousands of buildings each year—filled with recoverable old-growth lumber and materials—without any scalable system to preserve and re-use them.
Jay founded Backroads to change that. His company is developing the missing business infrastructure to make reclaimed lumber viable at scale: from grading standards and certified deconstruction crews to processing systems and market-aligned supply chains. His goal is to make reuse predictable, profitable, and integrated into the way cities grow.