Furniture manufacturers seek international standard for “green” furniture

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) recently hired Grand Rapids-based Sustainable Research Group to spearhead development of a national Sustainable Assessment Standard for the manufacture of environmentally friendly, or “green,” furniture. The goal is to eventually move the national standard into the global furniture market and encourage the development of international standards.

The standard will follow ANSI (American National Standards Institute) protocols, says Bill Stough of Sustainable Research Group.

“The standard looks at the kind of materials being used and fosters the use of environmentally safer glues, laminates, and plastics,” Stough says. “It provides incentives to look at the life cycle of a product, from manufacturing through safe recycling and composting.”

Stough expects the manufacturing standard will produce several healthy by-products:

• Innovation in product design through the use of safer materials
• Pressure on suppliers to develop environmentally safe materials
• Less energy usage in the manufacture of the furniture
• Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
• An increase in social responsibility: worker safety, no forced labor, no child labor, and each organization will have to engage in community outreach to be “green certified”

“The furniture industry has been one of the leading industries in the world promoting a sustainable approach to product development,” Stough says. “It's important for leadership companies to drive the standard, and right now we're at the beginning.”

The project has been underway for 18 months. Stough expects the standard to be ready for ANSI review in early 2009.

Source: Bill Stough, Sustainable Research Group

Photograph by Brian Kelly

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].