Green office furniture minimizes environmental impact and includes used, refurbished, or recycled content. It can also protect air quality and be easily recycled. Buying durable green furniture and looking for certifications can ensure sustainability.
Green office furniture is any type of office furniture that minimizes its impact on the environment. This includes furniture that has been used, refurbished, or made with recycled content. It also includes furniture that is made to protect office air quality and can be easily recycled after use. Virtually any type of furniture — such as desks, chairs, tables, and even lighting — can be considered green office furniture if it meets these criteria.
Buying used office furniture is one way that business owners or employees can exercise their environmental awareness. Buying recycled office furniture means that no new or limited resources were used to make the furniture or to assist in its construction. For example, buying a used desk protects trees from being cut, reduces the energy required to create the desk in a factory, and saves fuel that would be required to ship the desk from the manufacturer to the store.
Green office furniture can also be furniture that is specially made to withstand many more years of use than the average piece of furniture. Pieces of office furniture are used, on average, for only 10 years before being scrapped. Business owners can help both their paperbacks and the environment by purchasing extra durable green office furniture that is ready to be recycled after use.
Green office furniture can also be furniture that ensures that an indoor office’s air quality remains clean and stable. Furniture not made with volatile organic-based (VOC) adhesives and coatings can help protect air quality integrity. Furniture manufactured using low-VOC VOCs, such as urethane, is technically green. Choosing items that are formaldehyde-free and do not contain polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is also a step in the right direction for those who want to have eco-friendly office furniture.
When looking for lighting solutions, consumers may want to purchase fixtures that run on less energy than compact fluorescent lamps. Some lights can run on 8 to 9 watts, which is nearly 50 percent less energy than compact fluorescent lamps. Additionally, these types of green lighting solutions can provide illumination for many hours.
Consumers buying green office furniture may question manufacturers’ claims about earth-friendliness. If so, they can look for certain certifications on the product. For example, a McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry Cradle to Cradle, GreenGuard or LEED certification can let consumers know that the products they are buying are sustainable and environmentally friendly.
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