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locally made rather than imported products as it highlighted the signifcant effect of shipping on a product’s footprint.

The fact that Jeremy McWhinney, operations and fnance director of KI, argues that the effect is minimal suggests that carbon footprinting is still an inexact science and open to various interpretations.

“We used the BCFA carbon footprint model, which showed that freight accounted for 5% of the carbon footprint of our fling cabinets.While freight is easy to understand, it is such a small part of the overall footprint that it’s not a particularly useful way of looking at things,” he said. “We stress the longevity of our products. That’s something that’s overlooked a lot when people try to measure the environmental impact of a chair or cabinet. It is of critical importance for reducing the environmental impact of a product, but it doesn’t get factored in to the models people use when they look at carbon footprints.”

LEED and Greenguard

Like other North American furniture manufacturers KI places a great deal of emphasis on LEED and Greenguard certifcation.

Standing for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED is a green building rating system introduced by the US Green Building Council to promote environmentally responsible and healthy working environments. When furniture manufacturers talk of LEED certifcation, it is in connection with specifc offces or manufacturing facilities rather than products. Greenguard, by contrast, is an accreditation scheme for furniture products with low chemical and particle emissions.

Other eco-labels to look out for include Blue Angel, TCO Development, Nordic Swan and EcoLogo. These are regional schemes and so are limited, but accreditation is nonetheless a good indication of a company’s environmental values.

Life cycle assessments

Allan Smith, vice president of Steelcase International, advises buyers to be rigorous in demanding evidence of a manufacturer’s envionmental claims.

“Everyone will tell you they have a great environmental story but what you don’t get is the data so you can see the carbon impact of products. Ask for more information. Not just certifcation and labels but also test data,” he said. Steelcase’s commitment to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) means that they are able to provide purchasers with an enormous amount of detail relating to their products at each stage of the production process, from the use of materials in manufacturing to the furniture’s disposal at end of life. “People spend over one third of their lives in buildings with interior air quality issues and particulate matter. Therefore we look at how we can provide products that are safe and better to use,” he said. “We take a look at whether there is anything in our products that is dangerous from a human and from an environmental health perspective. We have 19 criteria and we look at all aspects down to 100 parts per million, which is a level that very few manufacturers go down to.” Demonstrating the success of its LCA strategy, a number of Steelcase products, notably the Think and Leap chairs, have received Cradle to Cradle certifcation from McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). This certifcation is awarded to products that use environmentally safe and healthy materials; are designed for material reutilisation, suc or composting; and are m an environmentally respo One of the defning ch of a cradle-to-cradle appr design of products so tha re-used after use. “Twenty years ago the furniture industry looked how to put furniture toge faster. Speed of assembly important, but now the main design criteria are can the product be disassembled into discrete parts and can you it in less than fve minute common hand tools.We c research showing that if a longer than that to disass dumped into the waste st Smith explained. To encourage the re-u of its products, Steelcase makes it easy for dealers

to recycle, refurbish, resell or donate furniture to a charity (in the UK, it encourages customers to give unwanted furniture to the Green-Works network of social enterprises).

Novel materials

Another company that sees a cradle-to-cradle strategy as the way forward is RH Form, as country manager Jurgen Josefsson explains.

“For fve years, all our products have been 100% recyclable.We have a policy to take back any product at end of life for recycling. If it comes to us here, we will dismantle it and then ship it back to Sweden,” he said. “Everything we take back is recycled: we have an agreement with our suppliers that they have to recycle things. For example, our plastic supplier will turn polypropylene into granules that can then be re-used in other chairs.”

The use of more natural materials that can be composted is another feature of this approach.

“Instead of foam, our Ambio chairs use a new material called Ventec that is woven out of horse and pig hair. The reason we use horse and pig is that the hair strand is hollow. You have an environmental beneft because it is biodegradable, so at the end of its life you could dig a hole in the garden and after 5 or 10 years it would degrade.

And because it’s hollow, it has 25% better heat d moisture disposal,” said. Expect to see ny more interesting erials in the near e, as manufacturers for ever more ntive ways to meet wing demand for stainable products nd manufacturing rocesses.

“We fnd that more more customers about sustainable Josefsson. “We’ve nvironment for many we think its real. s got to the stage where it isn’t a fad anymore.”

14 sustainabletimes 0870 903 9500

Steelcase’s Think chair was the frst product to receive MBDC Cradle-to-Cradle

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