Using Barcodes in the Lumber Industry
In today’s world, keeping track of logged trees is a lot easier when you know how many there are, where they are and even what kind of trees, how old they are and other useful information. Or at least that’s the belief of a company called  “Helveta”, a British company that hammers plastic barcode labels into trees.

The company, which is tracking a million trees throughout  Asia, Africa, and South America, gives every tree in a plantation above a certain size its own unique barcode. The idea behind this is, when a tree is chopped down, workers use a handheld barcode scanner  to scan processing and export data into Helveta’s database. Each cut tree is given a new barcode for export auditing at docks. Think of it like a supermarket shopping center for trees.

So far, so good, as Helveta’s business is booming. The company just received over $4 million in funding from investors, and its barcoding technology could become even more popular if a global climate deal is passed in December’s Copenhagen talks. That’s because trees soak up carbon dioxide, effectively making it easier for countries to keep their emissions low. Other incentives aren’t off the table either, as trees are a valuable resource that requires management to oversee.  Barcoding technology could also ease the $10 billion annual financial burden on timber-producing countries caused by losses from stolen wood. Placing barcode labels on trees would be a significant step in keeping track of these trees.

Helveta’s system can’t stop determined criminals from selling illegal timber on the black market, but it does make it more difficult for them to sell or export the wood, as any timber processed without tags is considered illegal. But what this system can do is improve the speed and organization of the lumber/timber industry, as well as allowing the ability to keep track of what different types of trees, and other basic information to be stored on the tree itself.