Sadly, tons of old lumber ends up in the landfill.
Not just old lumber, but lots of new re-useable wood too. Holmes on Homes is a prime offender. Watch next time and you'll see that (1-800-got-JUNK) dumpster being filled up with perfectly good stuff that the previous guy used in his F'ed up job. A few nails pulled, etc. and it is good to go. Guess it is my pet peeve regarding that show (and some others like TOH.)
Work benches.......had the good fortune to see two sticking out of a dumpster in downtown about twenty years ago when a bunch of long time factories were closed and gutted of all. Talked to the guy in charge and he said "take them", so I did. They were made of 2 X 8" Fir planks, probably 60-70 years old. They are benches in my garage and basement workshop now.
Also ran across another bench, made up from (2 X 8") hard maple, thrown out from a renovated factory that made muffler clamps. Got a million 3/8" lock washers out of that dis-assembly chore. Haven't reused that one yet.
I love reclaimed wood......had a place nearby that imported doors from Indonesia and they came in beautiful "Mahogany" crates. Some of that wood was furniture quality, and some firewood- the real reason I was there. Really nice wood but extremely difficult to color match, every piece is different. Good for small projects. Still have much of that stored away. Burns rather strangely and smells like you are burning really old and rotten socks.
Have another place that receives steel on hard maple skids, some pieces are good for projects, but most is firewood.........the reason I am there.
Yet another two places re-furbish skids and there is an endless supply of hard maple, oak, birch (and other) skid parts to burn........already dismantled, just cut in half and burn.
Some of the big city advantages.............