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COMPANY PROFILE
PURPOSE IN EVERY PIECE A LOOK AT TEXAS TREE SERVICE GROUP
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n arborist, an adventurer, and an artist. Three ways to describe a San Antonio business leader who is using his creative mind to impact the city. Scott Anderson runs Urban Soil Tree Services, a team of arborists who offer a variety of services to businesses, homeowners, and local government groups. They work on new construction and remodels, or deal with the city’s distressed trees that need nursing back to health. Urban Soil is also a wholesale operation that helps landscape architects choose the right products for their projects. One of Scott’s proudest innovations though is his team’s ability to repurpose everything that comes on-site. “Nothing leaves by the dumpster. We are processing tens to thousands of yards of material, and we have a two-yard dumpster that goes out once a week. It has a couple of boxes and Whataburger wrappers in it,” he says.
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EVERYTHING ELSE HAS A LIFE BEYOND They process old material as compost, mulch, or even firewood. Scott is pioneering a new way to sell firewood in Texas, inspired by his years growing up in the snowy Utah mountains. He is developing an online store that allows people to research and purchase treated firewood at a fair price. The online service gives buyers quality, professionalism, and credibility that other sellers may not provide. “We outline things like, what is a cubic yard and what is a cord of wood. Knowing these things is very tough. I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I even have a hard time knowing what a full cord of wood looks like on the ground. This leaves a lot of room for sellers to be shady about it,” he says.
sawmill and woodshop. He craftily designs all kinds of products from wood shreds, including silverware, plates, and furniture. He sells his designs to San Antonio locals, often working with the client to create the perfect fixture. “Once you are in the mindset of figuring out what things are good for, then you just figure it out. You have to think it through, and yes, have some failures too. That’s how you figure out what works though,” he says. Scott developed his artistic talents and love for the outdoors in Utah. In college, he led backpacking trips with local teenagers, many of who struggled to behave in more common environments. He hoped to teach them to survive in the wilderness–embracing the outdoors, building fires, creatively utilizing things around them–would help them deal with their problems at home. “When you put down your phone, when you don’t have the distractions of TV and those things, you figure out who you are. And you develop a skill and something to be proud of.”
Scott also repurposes the trees through his
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