How to Go Green: Furniture

Some people obsess over furniture. Others hardly even notice it's there. One way or the other, making environmentally savvy choices in furnishing your home or office can make a big difference in your impact on the planet and your health. The modern sustainability movement has attracted such a large number of innovative designers that it's hard to know where to start.

In this article we won't be listing every green furniture company or designer under the sun but rather give a rundown of basic concepts that might guide your search. Of the specific products and brands we do mention, not all will be budget-friendly for everyone--at this point, a lot of the green design is still specialty stuff, and thus pretty high-end. But don't worry. There are always cost effective ways to go green. Keep reading to learn more about the best ways to go green with your furniture.

Top Green Furniture Tips

1. Certified sustainable woodWhether a piece of furniture is made from wood, cloth, metal, plastic, or whatever else, there are earth-friendly options. When cave people realized that boulders weren't the most comfortable things to sit on, wood was almost certainly where they looked, so let's start there. The world needs more trees, not less, so practices that lead to deforestation aren't any good. Not only do trees absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, they keep the surface of the planet cool, they hold soil together so it can stay rich, and they provide the habitat that animals, insects, birds, and other plants call home, not to mention they support many people's livelihood. Simply put, don't mess with the trees. There are sustainable ways to harvest wood, however. Wood from sustainably harvested forests, sustainably harvested tree farms, and reclaimed wood are the main sources. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and its largest forest certifier, the Rainforest Alliance, is the most widely used standard for sustainable forestry.
2. Furniture made with reclaimed materialsIf wood is taken care of, and sometimes even if it isn't, it can last a really, really long time. So shouldn't we be able to make good use of all the wood that's already out there? A lot of designers think so and are doing just that. Reclaimed wood usually comes from old furniture, houses, or other built things that are ready for some friendly reincarnation, from flawed wood, or from scraps from a factory that makes other stuff. Some reclaimed wood even comes from logs that sunk to the bottom of rivers as they were being floated downstream to the sawmill, or from the bottom of man-made reservoirs (check out the Sawfish). Either way, furniture made from reclaimed wood is a great example of resource efficiency, but usually comes in shorter supply. The Rainforest Alliance has a Rediscovered Wood Certification label to look for.
3. BambooYou've probably heard by this point that bamboo isn't a tree at all, but a grass. Bamboo represents a family of grasses that range in size from tiny to huge, and in color from lime green to maroon stripes. It is incredibly fast-growing and versatile and has become the unofficial poster material of environmental designers and builders. Bamboo can be flattened into flooring, molded into furniture, pressed into veneers, sliced up to make window blinds, or hey, you can just build your whole house out of it. Using bamboo in buildings earns architects and builders LEED points. Most bamboo comes from China and is grown with few of no pesticides. Because it is so fast growing, it is much easier to maintain healthy bamboo forests. This also means it uses a lot of water, however, and harvesting too fast can deplete soil fertility. Some growers do use pesticides and other chemical inputs, however, so keep that in mind. But for the most part, bamboo is one of the greenest materials around.
4. Recycled/recyclable metal and plasticSince both metal and plastic are recyclable, at least in theory, these can be considered eco-friendly materials for furniture. More and more furniture is being made from recycled plastics and metals as well, like the recycled aluminum Icon Chair. Recycled materials require less processing and fewer resources, and help support the market for recycled materials. Technologies are always improving, meaning that recycled plastics and metals are always going up in quality. It's not all about materials, though, so here are some basic guiding principles to keep in mind when looking for furniture.
5. Recyclable and disassemblableGood eco-friendly furniture should lend itself to easy repair, disassembly, and recycling. Products certified by MBDC's C2C (Cradle 2 Cradle) product regimen are a perfect example, like certified office chairs from Herman Miller and Steelcase. These product can be easily taken apart, sorted into their constituent parts, and recycled at the end of their useful lives. When buying furniture, stay away from "monstrous hybrids", pieces that are an inseparable amalgam of materials. If they can't be taken apart it's probably a sign that they can't be repaired very well either.
6. Look for furniture that's durable and fixableOne of the most important but often overlooked aspects of green products (and this definitely goes for furniture) is durability. If something is tough and/or can be readily repaired, this lessens the chance that it'll end up in the landfill, and could easily save you money in the long run, even if it's initially more expensive. Even recyclable materials if they break (and can't be fixed) require energy and other resources to reprocess and then replace. Durable goods that will last a long time can be passed on from person to person. Even if your style changes and that kitchen table isn't your thing anymore, a good strong table will almost always be appealing to someone else, while a broken (and unfixable) one probably won't. When it's time to part with your possessions, think of Craigslist, Freecycle, or eBay, and find it a new home.
7. Low-toxicity furnitureWhen you buy a piece of furniture, bring it home, and set it down in a room, it doesn't just sit there. No matter what it's made out of, chances are, it's offgassing (or releasing substances into the air). Almost everything offgasses, which isn't necessarily bad, but synthetic materials or those treated with synthetic substances can offgas chemicals which are toxic. Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are the most common family of chemicals that are offgassed and have been linked to birth defects, endocrine disruption, and cancer. Flame retardants and formaldehyde are common VOCs offgassed by furniture. Especially if your home or office is well-insulated (which it should be for energy purposes) toxins can't get out easily. In fact, studies have shown that air quality inside your house (or car) is often worse than outside. Everyone should be conscious of the kinds of chemicals they bring home, but especially if you have kids, pets, or other family members who are low to the ground and prone to licking things. There are some good ways to help maintain good indoor air quality when it comes to furniture choices.Greenguard is a certification which ensures furniture is low toxicity. Herman Miller, Haworth, Knoll, and Izzydesign all offer Greenguard certified furniture options. Also, look for furniture that is untreated or treated with natural substances, like natural wood finishes, or naturally tanned leather. Organic cotton is also less likely to be treated with toxic stuff. Another great way to dodge toxic chemicals is to buy furniture that is vintage or second-hand and has already done most of its offgassing (just make sure it doesn't carry anything worse, like lead paint). You can tell intuitively that new things offgas more actively-just think of that new car smell.
8. Buy vintageWith all the slick, mod, "eco" brands jumping into the market it can be hard to keep in mind that pre-owned goods can be the most green purchase of all. Vintage and second-hand and furniture requires no additional resources to manufacture, is often locally sources (cutting down on transportation), is pre-offgassed and eases the load on the landfill. Quality vintage furniture can also have excellent resale value (sometimes selling for the same price it was bought) which certainly can't be said for most new furniture, green or otherwise.
9. Buy localJust like the food on the dinner plate, we might be amazed how many miles the constituent parts of a piece of furniture might have had to travel in order to reach us. If possible, source furniture close to home. This will support the local economy, small craftspeople, and decrease the environmental cost of shipping (not to mention the other kind of cost).
10. What to do with it when you're over itWe can't promise we're going to like something forever or that our furnishing needs won't change. When it's time to bid a chair, table, bed, or dresser farewell, make sure it goes to a good home. Sell it on Craigslist, eBay, or the local paper, give it away via Freecycle, or include it in your next yard sale. Putting it safely on the curb with a "free" sign on it can also do the trick. If you are the crafty type, lots of furniture can be repurposed into new functions or just freshened up with new paint or finish. No sturdy artifact should have to live out eternity in the landfill. If it's your mission to get deeper into the green furniture space, put on your designer's smock and start tinkering. Think about refurbishing old furniture or entirely repurposing other objects, like this bathtub turned arm chair. In this design, a clever individual speced out a top-notch chair from heavy-duty fabric-covered cardboard tubes, aluminum rings, and wood. Heavy-duty cardboard can be fashioned to interlock in creative ways. If you've got fertile ground and some time to spare you can even grow your own furniture to suit. The Spanish group Drap-Art has a reuse festival that is ripe with ideas.

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Green Furniture: By the Numbers

• 78: Number of countries with FSC certified forests.
• 247: Number of million acres of FSC certified forests. worldwide
• 60: Number of million acres of those are located in North America.
• 11: Number of habitats at risk that FSC works to protect.
• 3 to 4: The length, in feet, some species of bamboo can grow in a day, in good soil and climate conditions.
• 100 times higher: The concentration of volatile organic compounds and particulates in indoor spaces vs. outdoors.
• 90 percent: The amount of time an average person spends indoors.
• 50 percent: Percentage of U.S. manufactured office furniture that went to Canada in 2006.
• $11.9: Billions of dollars spent on office furniture made in the U.S. in 2005.
• 300: Amount of furniture stores throughout the U.K. that provide publicly donated furniture to people in need.
• $19.99: Cost of a disposable bedside table from IKEA.

Sources: Forest Friendly Lumber, AllBusiness.com, Waste Guide, IKEABack To Top Λ

Green Furniture: Getting Techie

FSC Certified WoodIf wood is FSC certified, this means that the forest it was cut from is managed in a way that allows the natural ecosystem to maintain itself--in other words, it stays a forest. In theory, a well-managed forest can continue to produce wood indefinitely. This is the opposite of clear-cutting, where whole forests are leveled at once and the ecosystem is demolished (unless you consider the opposite of clear-cutting to be not cutting at all). Look for FSC certified wood.

Question your woodThere are two sides to every coin, however. Sustainable forestry does still have an impact on the forest, and still has the potential to damage the ecosystem and habitats within. Tree farms can be monocultures devoid of biodiversity, and can be treated with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, just like non-organic food crops. They can also be genetically modified, which creates the risk of altered trees invading natural ecosystems in the wild. It's always good to ask questions about where your wood comes from, but answers can sometimes be hard to come by.

Volatile Organic CompoundsVolatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): In the words of Environmental Building News: "Carbon-based substances that occir as gases under typical ambient air temperature and pressure. For the purposes of regulating air pollutants, EPA and other agencies include only compounds that contribute to smog in the definition of VOCs. For indoor air quality purposes the definition is not limited in that way. There are also semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) that don't become gaseous as readily but are still found in indoor air. Those most commonly identified as chemicals of concern are pesticides, flame retardants, and phthalates. Finally, microbial VOCs are generated and released as a result of microbial growth." (EBN Vol. 15, No. 9, 2005)

The main groups offering air quality certification for indoor furnishings are:

• Greenguard
• BIFMA
• SCS's Indoor Advantage
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Where to Get Green Furniture: Stores and More

• 3R Living
• Benchmark
• Blueline
• Branch
• Chmoebel
• Cohda
• Herman Miller
• Modern Bamboo
• Pacific Rim
• Koskela
• Re:Modern
• Rogan Objects
• Scrapile
• Steelcase
• Vivavi
• Woodshanti
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Green Furniture: From the Archives

Dig deeper into these articles on Furniture from the TreeHugger and Planet Green archives.

We're always coming across new and exciting green furnishing design for the home. Also dig into our Design and Architecture category or search TreeHugger.com for keyword 'furniture.'

• Best of TreeHugger: Sustainable Designers parts I, II, III, IV.
• Sleeping Beauties (a roundup of beds)
• Where to find Greenguard certified office furniture
• Some beautiful examples of bamboo furniture include: the work of Sandor Pratt, the morphing Futaba love seat/coffee table, and the tables and chairs of Gorilla Furniture.
• Eco Home
• Ancient Modes recycled wood furniture
• Pacific Green uses Palmwood, a wood they originally found on abandoned coconut palm plantations in the South Pacific, which they sought out as an alternative to the destructive harvesting of tropical hardwoods.
• Harttman and Forbes makes window dressings from organic and renewable resources like papyrus and bamboo, and even has a take back program for when their products are ready for a new life.
• Bemz slipcovers are specifically designed to give new life to threadbare Ikea furniture.
• Piet Hein Eek are makers of lovely Dutch furniture artfully constructed from scrap wood.
• Furnature has a wide range of products made with sustainable and recycled materials, especially suited for people with chemical sensitivities.
• Crate & Barrel's bamboo Bento Collection (pricing $1000 and up for larger pieces)
• Bamboo veneer bed by John Kelly Furniture
• The Tio lounge chair from New Zealand lets its owner change its outfit.
• Edo Style Japanese bed from Haiku Designs made of farm grown mahogany.
• Modern Bamboo, formerly known as Adapt Design, lots of tasty bamboo creations made of Plyboo from Smith & Fong, including stools and the Spring chair.
• Woodshanti is a worker-owned cooperative from San Francisco. They are certified by SmartWood to label their products as harvested from well managed, FSC certified forests.
• Pacific Rim, from Eugene, OR, sells sustainable beds and other furniture with hand rubbed with natural finishes.
• The Swiss designed and made Chmoebel line is constructed of pieces that fit so snugly they require no glues, screws, or fasteners or any kind.
• Benchmark makes furniture from FSC certified wood and natural upholstery.
• Rogan Objects, from father of Loomstate organic denim.
• Cohda has eclectic modern chairs made from reprocessed discarded plastic bags.
• Kirei board in an enticing engineered wood material.
• Furnishings from Koskela are high-end and super stylish.
• Cork is a renewable wood that is resilient and weathers well. TreeHugger has covered examples of cork in the form of a chaise, a stool, fabric, and a great many other things.
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Further Reading on Green Furniture

• Aerias Air Quality Sciences
• Air Quality Sciences, Inc.
• EPA's page dedicated to Indoor Air Quality
• EPA's page for Indoor Air Quality in Homes
• The US EPA's page on formaldehyde
• The US Green Building Council
• Forest Stewardship Council
• Greenguard
• Indoor Air Quality Emission Simulation Tool (IA-QUEST)
• McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry
• Rainforest Alliance's Smartwood Program