There’s a strange thing about furniture. A piece of furniture from hundreds of years ago is admired with a deep appreciation for the skill and time devoted to creating it and the high quality of the materials used in it. Yet furniture has become a throwaway item – stores are filled with cheap products that people do not appreciate and do not intend to keep for long. Quality has been traded off for trendy and the environment is paying the price.
The most serious offender of the buy, discard, repeat mentality is office furniture. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, over eight million tons of office furniture are discarded annually in the United States. And if you consider that the manufacture of one office chair produces 72 kg of CO2, a visitor chair creates 36 kg of CO2, and a standard office desk another 45 kg of CO2, the impact on the environment is phenomenal.
So, how can sustainable furniture be accepted by an ever-growing percentage of the population? Let’s have a look at the different kinds of sustainable furniture to gain a greater appreciation for its value, and some of the best brands you can look for in Canada.
What Makes Furniture Sustainable?
Central to the idea of sustainable furniture is the idea of the circular economy. The guiding principles towards greener business practices are:
- Elimination of waste and pollution
- Circulate products and materials
- Creating new products from recycled material
- Using locally sourced materials
- Creating products that are easily recycled or repurposed
Sustainable Furniture Materials
Sustainable materials used to make furniture are those sourced from renewable, durable and recyclable materials. Wood from sustainable plantations scores highly in this regard, but several other materials can rate just as high on the sustainability scale.
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If you’re looking for sustainably manufactured wood furniture, bamboo is at the top of the list. It is strong, lightweight and durable. It also grows exceptionally fast so it’s a highly renewable resource.
Recycled plastic can help reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills. While it is true that recycling plastic involves industrial processes that are not conducive to sustainable practices, the overall impact on the environment is positive.
The reuse of timber has become a very popular way to recycle wooden products. In particular, structural timber sourced from old buildings is a highly valued material for bespoke furniture. The use of old timber means that fewer trees need to be harvested, and old structural timber doesn’t end up in landfills or used for firewood.
Recycled Furniture
Wood, metal, plastic, glass and textiles are the most commonly recycled materials for furniture. Wood can be reclaimed from old buildings or turned into engineered wood products like MDF and plywood.
Metal is a highly recyclable material. Recycled steel often comes from old cars, appliances and old furniture and is turned into new furniture frames and components. Aluminum is another commonly recycled metal for furniture.
Old plastic is frequently recycled to make sustainable outdoor furniture. The process involves sorting old plastic products, which are then cleaned and melted to form planks. The planks are then used to create new plastic furniture.
Furniture made from recycled plastic is resistant to insect infestation and will not rot or absorb moisture, making it ideal for outdoor or garden use. In addition, it does not need to be treated with preservatives or sealers, making it a more sustainable product.
As the raw material for recycled plastic is fairly low-cost, the range of plastic outdoor furniture creates a welcome market for affordable, sustainable furniture.
Upcycling Furniture
Upcycled furniture is created by combining old furniture, some imaginative flair and a little hard work. The great thing about upcycled furniture is that it transforms a landfill object into something of beauty and value.
It could simply involve sanding down and painting or sealing an old table, perhaps fitting some old windows into a new project, or changing a bookshelf into a purpose-built cocktail cupboard. A tired, threadbare chair can be transformed into a vibrant centre of attraction with a simple reupholstering.
The important thing here is that you will be giving an old piece of furniture a new lease of life and creating something of value with a sentimental price tag.
Sustainable Furniture Manufacturers in Canada
It seems ironic for a sustainable business to call itself Quagga, the extinct zebra-type animal that once roamed the plains of South Africa, but the Ontario-based bed company has spent the last thirty years or so making sustainable beds using locally sourced material.
The beds’ design makes them easy to assemble, and some models are even expandable. They take great care in restricting the use of formaldehyde emissions, and their bed frames are CARB Phase 2 compliant.
Carl Heinrichs, founder and CEO of Quagga, took the next logical step in 2015 and, together with other like-minded entrepreneurs, created the mattress company Endy. The mattresses are made from the finest sustainable products, and the health of the planet is of equal importance to the customer’s comfort.
Crate & Barrel Canada has several stores that offer a range of eco-friendly furniture brands. They strive to reduce the carbon footprint from factory to customer while emphasizing the use of sustainable materials. By 2025, fifty percent of the furniture they sell will be FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wooden products. In addition, the products are delivered in recycled packaging.
Most textiles Crate and Barrel sells are OEKO-TEX labelled, ensuring they contain no harmful substances. The linen range is fifty percent organic, and the company aims to have a one hundred percent organic linen range in the near future.
Durham Furniture started producing wooden furniture way back in 1899. Based in Durham, Ontario, the company sources all its timber from sustainable forests and prides itself on being one of the leading sustainable furniture manufacturers. The company has a policy of building sustainable home furniture pieces that are strong enough to last many generations. The company produces a wide range of furniture for all areas of the home and is a prominent member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council.
A leading source of plywood furniture, Agile manufactures wood furniture that is both sustainable and collapsible. Founder Erik LeBrun is firmly set on producing products that are not harmful to the environment and using the best quality wood available.
The plywood used in the furniture is made from FSC-certified Canadian birch. The laminations are glued together using a soy-based adhesive that contains no formaldehyde or phenol. The wood is finished with Tung oil, which protects it and lacks VOCs (Volatile organic compounds), making it a much healthier alternative.
Sustainable Office Furniture Brands to Look For
Effydesk uses a closed-loop production method that uses the minimum amount of raw material and is one of the leaders in following production methods to promote sustainability in the furniture industry. ChopValue is part of the Effydesk campaign to produce office furniture sustainably. Their carbon-negative manufacturing process uses recycled chopsticks to create a highly densified material that is as strong as oak.
DeGaspé is a Montreal-based company that sources sustainable furniture materials locally whenever possible. The company strongly supports the Veritree campaign to plant trees in Africa and North America and is close to achieving its goal of planting 200,000 trees. It makes a range of desks, conference tables, collaborative counters and residential furniture.
If you’re looking for recycled plastic outdoor furniture, C.R. Plastics Products is an Ontario-based company that only uses recycled plastic to make its outdoor furniture.
Its range of furniture includes casual seating, frames and fabrics, dining furniture and deep seating.
Where to Find Affordable Sustainable Furniture in Canada
Finding sustainable furniture at bargain prices doesn’t have to be difficult. Companies that upcycle or repurpose items can offer cheap sustainable furniture. Here are two companies that support the drive to reduce landfill dumping and strive to create new items of beauty from abandoned furniture at bargain prices.
Kaiyo buys furniture destined for the landfill and, with artistic flair and hard work, reworks it into a top-quality piece that sells for a fraction of the price of the original item.
Buy using their service you can save the time it takes to hunt around for used furniture or to sell it.
Malenka Originals is another upcycling company that specializes in creating repurposed furniture from pieces destined for landfill.
The Ottawa-based company was started in 2011 by Katrina Barclay and has been trading as Recreated Designs since last year.
Continue reading on this topic in A Beginner’s Guide to Sustainable Home Décor
