Terrazzo, the speckled, unbreakable flooring of airports and old apartment lobbies, is an imaginative reuse star: it was developed in the 15th century by Venetian marble workers who embedded stone residues in clay to pave terraces– hence terrazzo. In 20th century America, the finish was made from stone chips and cement polished with an electrical grinder– look down at Radio City Music Hall, the Washington Monument, and the Hollywood Walk of Popularity. In recent years, epoxy and polyacrylic binders can be found in, making the material more flexible and popular again– if less eco-friendly.
We recently included a West London kitchen– see Party in the Back– that opened our eyes to a sustainable, newish terrazzo spinoff composed of wood scraps bound in bio-based resin. Two UK business currently provide what one calls Wood Terrazzo and the other TreeAzzo. Made by hand for usage as counters, backsplashes, and floor covering, they’re readily available in a wide variety of colors, all durable, scratch-resistant, and patterned in a confetti of wood castoffs.
Above: The kitchen island at Evo Hotel Hakuba in Nagano, Japan, is completed in Lumber Terrazzo made in Birmingham, England, by Foresso, likewise known as Low Carbon Industrial, a company with a mission to”find amazing uses for recovered products.” 
Above: Lumber Terrazzo in Pewter Oak includes end-grain wood chips. The offcuts are collected from non-commercial tree removal companies, sawmills, and other little UK organizations. The zer0-VOC resin is made up of 85 percent recycled products: a mix of sawdust from furniture producers and mineral powders from plaster waste. 
Above: Lumber Terrazzo is readily available in a range of waste woods and binder colors. This one is Blush London Airplane. The composite material is made in 3 panel sizes with plywood substrates starting at 2,440-by-1220-millimeters (around 8-by-4-feet) for $2,135: like all terrazzo, it’s labor-intensive to make and costly.
No 2 sheets of wood terrazzo are exactly alike. After the resin and wood are blended, they’re delegated cure then sanded to expose the wood, polished, and finished with a food-safe, natural hard wax oil or lacquered for usage in high-traffic area. Unlike stone-based terrazzo, wood terrazzo can be drilled or cut to size with wood-working tools. Foresso uses a CNC maker to make tongue-and-groove floor covering and wall paneling.
Above: TreeAzzo from flooring company Havwoods include a mix of wood chips, consisting of walnut, oak, ash, and pine with a lacquered surface and is made to order in the sample tones or any “appropriate RAL color.” Havwoods explains TreeAzzo as “a sustainable, FSC-certified, eco-friendly, resin-bound wood chip surface handmade in Europe from top quality, eco-friendly resin blended with wood chip waste from the woodworking market.”
It features a backing of plywood or fiber cement (for use as flooring or wall tiles); rates on request. Havwoods is UK-based however readily available in the US and has an open-to-the-public NYC showroom at 151 West 18th Street.