How does home or garden furniture damage the environment?
Firstly, in the impact made by obtaining or producing the materials to make the furniture.
- Wood - demand for hard and tropical woods such as mahogany and teak has caused great swathes of rainforest to be cut-down. Man has cut down more than half of the Worlds’ rainforest over the last 2 centuries. To put this in context; at current rates we are losing more than 75,000 acres of tropical forest every day! Consumption of wood has doubled in the last 35 years alone.
Plastic - requires fossil fuels (oil and gas) in its production which generate greenhouse gas emissions, and depletes this non-renewable resource. Plastic production consumes 8% of worldwide oil production and the amount of plastic used in Western Europe is growing at 4% p.a.
Secondly, furniture manufacturing can produce a variety of damaging emissions including volatile organic compounds & particulate matter from wood coating operation, wood dust from woodworking, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen chloride from combustion. Since 1990, furniture manufacture in the U.K is governed by legislation which controls these emissions at sites above relevant thresholds. Similar legislation exists across Europe and the United States, but not necessarily for all manufacturers worldwide.
Choosing more environmentally friendly furniture: Products manufactured from native-grown materials, locally sourced, should always be a more environmentally friendly choice from a road or air-miles perspective, but not if the manufacturing process is less than eco-friendly as detailed above. Recycling old furniture by purchasing second-hand or antique furniture is an easy way to be green. If you are buying new, consider the following:
1. Furniture made from reclaimed timber: Wood is a very resilient material and in previous centuries reclaiming timber for house- or boat-building was a very common practice. Today, reclamation is gaining popularity and living trees are preserved in the process. Supply to the industry by dismantling derelict buildings and other defunct structures for their floorboards, beams, doors, or furniture etc. is increasing both here and abroad. Old wood in particular has distinct advantages like traditional techniques of preparation, aged patina and grain, and also the inherent properties from such long periods of seasoning to make furniture that is both hard wearing and beautiful. Re-milled and re-used timber is especially desirable where an individual look is required, for example timber frames, floorboards and other joinery, traditional-build homes, bespoke kitchens and bedrooms, and furniture for the home and garden.
2. Furniture made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber: The industry in illegally logged old-growth forest is enormous, and consumers don't always know that the furniture they buy comes from this source. This council is attempting to stem demand by helping the consumer identify wood which is not illegally logged. The FSC is an international body, which accredits certification organisations in order to guarantee the authenticity of their claims. In all cases the process of certification will be initiated voluntarily by forest owners and managers who request the services of a certification organisation. The goal of the FSC is to promote environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests, by establishing a worldwide standard of recognised and respected Principles of Forest Stewardship. They aim to secure forest resources globally for present and future generations, and furniture bought with their logo accreditation shows the wood is from sustainably managed sources.