As a general
rule, always try ad source organic fabrics and fills and certified ecologically
harvested wood, bamboo, non-toxic finishes, fair trade, local, artisan-crafted
or reclaimed finds.
Starting
with fabrics, you are likely to find:
•Organically
Upholstered furniture: Look for chairs and sofas covered in organic fabrics and
stuffed with natural latex foam.
•Mattresses:
Organic cotton, organic wool and natural latex are all good alternatives to the
materials used to create conventional mattresses.
•Futons:
Organic mattresses are pricey — there’s no question about it. Futons can be a
cost-effective alternative, and you don’t have to use them on those funky,
tough-to-sit-on folding frames; there are platforms and flat frames available,
too.
Wood
furniture:
Many newly
manufactured wood items these days carry FSC logo on them. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an
international non-profit that encourages sustainable forestry, offers FSC
certification to companies that harvest wood in accordance to FSC’s
requirements.
Buy a piece
of furniture made from FSC-certified wood and you’ll actually be able to trace
the wood to where it was harvested, as these products have to go through a
chain-of-custody certification process in order to carry the FSC stamp. And if
it’s polished with a no-VOC finish and upholstered with organic fabrics — wool,
cotton and the like — you’ll have a piece of furniture that’s as close to being
organic as you can get.
Consider
bamboo
Although
technically not a wood (it’s a grass), it looks like wood, and it is typically
grown with few to no pesticides. And, because it grows so fast, sustainability
isn’t much of a concern. Bamboo is used for a vast amount of everyday items
these days and is featuring more and more in modern design. It’s strength and
durability are making it ever more popular in the furniture industry.
Steer clear
of toxic materials and finishes
The simplest
way to avoid toxins like formaldehyde and PBDEs is to buy furniture made from
materials that don’t contain them.
Upholstery
marked as stain resistant has most likely being treated with Teflon which is
the product most often used to make fabrics stain resistant. Teflon contains
perflurorchemicals (PFCs), which can break down into a toxic blood contaminant
called perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. There’s been some back and forth about
whether fabric treatments and the like release a dangerous amount of PFOA, but
in the research done on this substance, Enviroblog, a project of EWG’s Action
Fund, reports that over 90 percent of Americans are showing PFOA in their
blood, making it a prudent choice to limit your exposure to PFOA as much as
possible.
Source
local/artisan and locally grown materials
Buying from
the source works as well with furniture as it does with organic food. Look for
locally produced and artisan furniture in local newspapers and classified ad
sites, and at craft fairs. Look for handmadel furniture made from salvaged wood
and metal, organic wool and cotton, and recycled fabrics. This also reduces
airmiles that sure wrack up pollution bills when considering the thousands of
miles many new items travel from China.
Recycle,
reclaim or re-purpose
Creatively
reusing or recycling everyday objects into completely different things is a
great way to come up with furniture and accessories that are truly
one-of-a-kind items. It can also reduce the volume of waste sent to landfills.
According to the American Society of Interior Designers, 90 percent of
everything manufactured in the United States ends up in landfills less than a
year after production.
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