Sustainability and the Furniture Industry

James BellEnvironmental Consultant

The Business Case for Sustainability

Regulatory

Environmental Economic

Social

Current Issues affecting the Industry

Ethical Timber Hazardous Substances

Carbon Management

‘Eco-labels’

Green Public Procurement

‘Green Buildings’

SustainableManufacturing

‘Eco-design’

Green Public Procurement (GPP) and Government Buying Standards

Furniture Core Criteria include:

• Sustainable timber

• Limited use of hazardous substances

• Use of recycled/renewable materials

• Recyclability of materials at ‘end of life’

• Recyclability of packaging

• Durable, fit for use, ergonomic, easy to disassemble, repairable and recyclable furniture

• GPP introduced by the EU to promote sustainable procurement and consumption.

• Profound impact- 15% of EU’s GDP is public spending

• UK introduced ‘Government Buying Standards’ with criteria for separate product groups, including furniture

What is Chain of Custody?Chain of Custody (CoC) is the unbroken path which timber and paper products take from forest to consumer, including all stages of the supply chain.

….to consumerFrom forest….

Ethical Timber- Chain of Custody

CoC certification provides 3rd party verification that products originate from certified forests.

Certification for products and projects.Anything from toilet roll to the London 2012 Olympic Park!

What is Chain of Custody?Ethical Timber- EU Timber Regulations

• Aim to prevent the sale of illegally sourced timber and timber products in the EU

• 20% of timber entering the EU is from illegal sources

• Operators and traders have obligations

• Companies who purchase timber outside of the EU will need to demonstrate ‘due diligence’.

• Has come into effect from March 2013

Hazardous Substances- REACH• REACH is a complex system of EU Regulations concerning chemicals.

• Affects the entire supply chain; manufacturers, importers and their customers.

• Hazardous chemicals are classified as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) and their use is subject to authorisation and, ultimately, restrictions.

• Several substances in the furniture industry are facing restriction including:

Flame Retardants Dyes and Colourants Plasticisers

Waste Management and End of Life

Waste Management Hierarchy

Since April 2011, public sector organisations are encouraged to meet at least 5% of their office furniture needs through reuse/refurbish/reupholster of current stock

‘Green Buildings’- BREEAM & LEED

• BREEAM (UK) and LEED (US) are ‘green building’ rating systems

• Designed to assess the sustainability of new non-domestic buildings

• Assess on variety of criteria including energy, water, materials, waste, management, land use, pollution and wellbeing

‘Eco-Labels’

EU Eco-Label(EU wide)

Blue Angel(Germany)

Nordic Eco-Label(Nordic Countries)

Cradle to Cradle(Global)

NF Environnement(France)

Green Seal (USA)

Environmental Choice(Australia and NZ)

Over 400 in total!!

SKA Ratings

• Rating the environmental performance of fit-out projects

• Increasingly asked for in fit-out projects

• Good practice measures for offices and retail

Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme

Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme

FISP Audit Structure• Section 1: Core Commitments

• Environmental policy.

• Legal compliance.

• Section 2: Environmental Commitments

• Choice of 5 from 9 criteria.

• Environmental criteria including waste management, energy management, procurement, packaging management, transport and sustainable timber.

• Section 3: CSR Commitments• Choice of 3 from 6 criteria.• Economic and social criteria including community relations, education and

ethical issues.

FISP Case Study- SenatorSenator International Ltd.

- Founding members of FISP in 2006.

- One of the UK’s largest office furniture manufacturers

- WCFM Sustainability Awards Winners 2014

FISP was instrumental in Senator’s successes in the following areas:

‘End of Life’Management

Packaging Optimisation

WasteMinimisation

Eco-Design

Summary

• Complex range of sustainability criteria affecting the furniture industry, which will inevitably increase

• Variety of economic, environmental, regulatory and social drivers

• Important to consider these criteria when designing, manufacturing and specifying furniture products

Questions