furniture and sustainability

been mulling this over for quite a few months now. anyone have any thoughts about this?

If you really want to streatch things from a marketing point…play the tearms of green… In terms of wood usage

Most RTA is “green” as the composite board utilizes (or could use) waist from the milling industry. Potentially wood could also be salvaged from demolition/rehab and ground and utilized.

However, utilizing non exotic fast growing woods…grasses…aka bamboo things could truely move to sustainable.

Hardly… :unamused:

You might want to look into the chemicals used to glue all those particles together - very nasty (and toxic) stuff:

Resin, in liquid form, is then sprayed through nozzles onto the particles. There are several types of resins which are commonly used. Urea formaldehyde resin is the cheapest and easiest to use. It is used for most non-water resistant boards. Melamine formaldehyde resin is significantly more expensive, as it is moisture resistant. Phenol formaldehyde is also fairly expensive. It is dark colored and highly durable. These resins are sometimes mixed with other additives before being applied to the particles, in order to make the final product waterproof, fireproof, insectproof, or to give it some other quality.

I am aware of the chemicals in the glues and resins… that is why I prefaced it with the first sentance…If you really want to streatch things from a marketing point…play the tearms of green…

As far as modular and small office / home office furniture goes, you would be suprised at what some of the larger manufacturers are doing these days. Even more impressive is the extent that the smaller manufacturers have gone to in beating the larger corporations to the punch with their sustainable lines.

The RTA lines are not the best when it comes to thinking and buying green, however there are still alot of furniture options out there that arent addressing the green initiatives even to this extent. At this point in the whole “world thinking green” campaign there are very few manufacturers that are not publicizing their green lines. When looking for furniture, look for things like bamboo and other noticable features that are made from rapidly renewable resources.

Also, check out www.inhabitat.com. Their team sends out at least four or five RSS feeds each day that are extremely informative with sustainable advances is almost all areas of life.