Congratulations ! You in conclusion pull ahead thelottery , and now you have a few thousand dollars to redecorate your sustenance way . Of course you ’re going to be bet for well-fixed and good - look furniture , but you have another standard as well . You want your newfangled slice of furniture to be sustainably made and good for the environment . So what should you buy ?

While greenish products are all the craze right now , the furniture industry fall back behind . After all , the industry ’s success is free-base on folks wanting to redecorate every few years . Until recently , there was no way to really know how sustainable your furniture was , or what sustainability might mean in relation to furniture . introduce the Sustainable Furniture Council ( SFC ) . shape in 2006 , the SFC is make for to elevate environmentally responsible for practices in the piece of furniture manufacture in the United States . It ’s also developing an identification recording label that will avail customers find furniture that meets globe - friendly guidelines .

And what might those road map entail ? The SFC uses a Life Cycle Analysis to measure a product ’s environmental impact . You may think of a sprightliness cycle as the clip from the place of origin to the grave , but the SFC and its members will be trying to get us to think about how a mathematical product can go from provenience to cradle . If a product starts life story as a raw material , how can it then serve as a raw material for another product ? And what did it do in between those times – was it ship around the world , or did it remain local ? Did it spend its time emit harmful chemicals and ruining indoor line timbre ? Did its maker create a ton of waste in create it ? These are the types of military issue to consider when furniture shopping .

Of course , one of your best wager for earth - favorable furniture is buying secondhand , particularly investing in antiques . Thisrecycledfurniture does n’t necessitate any additional environmental impact . Also , when you corrupt an antique that is more than 50 long time sometime , it lacks the toxic chemical and meaning that some piece of furniture can let out [ source : Bartolucci ] .

But for the saki of this clause , let ’s say you want raw furniture . You ’ve been windowpane shopping , and you ’ve specify down your option . For that turning point by the window , you ’re either going to go with a mass - create professorship or a handcraft chair . What is the life Hz of each ? Which should you buy ? Turn the page to discover out .

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Sustainable Furniture

Let ’s say you ’ve settled on buying either a handcrafted wooden sway chairman from a local craftsman or a plush armchair from a furniture entrepot in the promenade with your winning . How does each make out on sustainability ?

To start the life cps analysis of this piece of furniture , front at the unlike fabric that get into these pieces . It ’s best if the materials are topically sourced , but there are some other things to attend for . If the piece is made of wood , then you ’ll desire to check that the wood was approved by the Forest Stewardship Council , which endorse wood that meets environmental guidelines . Any fabrics should be organic material such as cotton , wool or hemp , and metal should berecycled . Because some article of furniture finishes are high involatile organic compounds(VOCs ) that give off harmful strain pollutants , calculate for paints , foams and glues that are certified as scummy - VOC . Mass - grow art object are more potential to release VOCs thanks to thing like formaldehyde and foam shock absorber douse with chemic flame retardants ; that ’s strike one for that plush armchair .

The main divergence in these pieces are how and where they were made . piece of work by hand take less energy than a mass production assembly line , offer that the craftsman work on to reduce his permissive waste effectively . A lot of energy also can go into shipping a piece of piece of furniture . Because more batch yield is being sourced to Asiatic countries , that chair might have already racked up quite thecarbon footprintin its journey to the mall . Instead , you ’ll want to wait for furniture that is manufactured nearby , using local materials when possible . Unless you have an energy - effective manufacturing works down the road , the handcrafted sway chairwoman from the local craftsman definitely issue forth out before in this beat .

And the last step in the life oscillation analysis – how can the piece be used after you ’re done with it ? Can it be reprocess into another product , is it biodegradable or will it sit in a landfill ? Furniture account for more than 18 million pound ( 6.2 million kilograms ) of waste product in 2006 , the most of any indestructible good [ source : The Press - Enterprise ] . And while organization such asEarth911andFreecyclewill help your mass - produced chair retrieve a new abode , it ’s more ground - friendly to see your furniture as an heirloom , not a disposable trade good . Handcrafted piece of furniture tends to last longer , so you may be buying less article of furniture overall than if you purchased a couch that only has a few years of lifespan in it . Another point awarded to the rocking chair .

Ultimately , the rocking chair wins this sustainability contest . It was made locally with renewable Sir Henry Joseph Wood , and it will far outlast the stuffed armchair . Another advantage you have when buying handcrafted bit is the ability to talk with the journeyman direct about some of these aliveness cycle issues . It ’s unlikely that a sales rep in the shopping center would have the answers , but the SFC certification could eventually help consumer make more informed decisions .

But sustainable piece of furniture does n’t come tawdry ; there ’s normally a agiotage of about 20 to 30 pct over mass - produced furniture [ source : Hasek ] . expectant , you may think – thislotterymoney wo n’t last forever , and I wo n’t always have the bread to spend on sustainable handcrafted article of furniture . A mass - produce sofa just may fit my budget better . Well , consumer interest and demand may be one reason why the bighearted guys have n’t blend fleeceable yet . Until the mass show pastime in sustainable piece of furniture , there ’s no incentive for manufacturers to aline their pattern .

To learn more about sustainability in home design , see the links on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .

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