eco-design for furniture

 

Combat Climate Change - Choose Sustainable Timber

Did you know:
• The UK’s forests capture the CO2 emissions of 3 million cars!  
• Enduring timber furniture can store captured CO2 for up to 40+ years.
• Timber is the world’s “greenest” building material – it is renewable and has ultra low embodied energy.
• 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by deforestation.


fsc-logging


Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)

S+A recently became Australia's first furniture maker to achieve FSC certification. FSC is an internationally recognised “green” timber certification body based in Germany. FSC was chosen by S+A for its ethical integrity, especially in protecting local communities and old growth forests from illegal and unsustainable logging. FSC is the only timber certification system endorsed by the Green Building Council USA, Green Building Council of Australia, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Key requirements of FSC include:

  • an unbroken “chain of custody” of FSC certification for all suppliers in the supply chain.
  • compliance with strict international standards governing environmental, social and economic responsibility.
  • regular audits by FSC to ensure FSC timber is not being substituted with timber from questionable sources.


Integrity of FSC

FSC is the only timber certification system known by S+A to consistently audit certified companies and to suspend certificates where companies are found to have breached their agreed FSC responsibilities. This gives us confidence that FSC has integrity rather than being used to rubberstamp questionable forestry practise. You can view a current list of all companies with suspended and valid FSC certificates on the FSC database.


Interesting Statistics

  • The Australian Institute of Criminology estimates the trade in illegally harvested timber in the Asia Pacific is worth $2 billion per annum.
  • A 2005 report for the Australian Government identified about $400 million in “illegal or unsustainably harvested wood imported to Australia.” (1)
  • Up to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by deforestation. (2)
  • Up to 70% of wood from Indonesia is likely to be illegally logged (3), with large quantities exported for global furniture manufacture in China and Europe.

FSC in S+A Furniture:

FSC timber is currently used in S+A’s new Felix ottoman range, with FSC timber being phased into S+A’s remaining sofa collections during 2009. When FSC timber is not an option due to supply issues, S+A give preference to eco timbers from AFS or PEFC certified forests.


Sources:

  1. Australian Forest & Wood Products Statistics, March & June 2006, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) November 2006.
  2. Greenpeace website (http://www.greenpeace.org.au/blog/energy/?p=282 )
  3. The Good Wood Guide, Friends of the Earth, Fauna & Flora International, January 2002


Eco-evolution

At S+A we are prepared to make mistakes in our efforts to get it right. Many of us hesitate to take responsibility for the impact of our work on the environment because we don't have all "the answers".
S+A's view is that accumulated small steps can lead to major breakthroughs. As in nature, that's eco
evolution in action.

S+A's eco-design projects have so far concentrated on two main areas:

  • using the recycled resin Recopol™ as part of a "closed loop" system of material utilisation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce resource wastage, and reduce landfill use.
  • the use of timber classified by Greenpeace as eco preferable.

S+A are also:

  • working towards independent certification of our eco claims.
  • continuing to design for product longevity, producing super-strong furniture which has been tested by AFRDI in accordance with Australian Standards 4688:2000 for strength, safety and ergonomics.
  • minimising use of known eco contaminants (e.g. chrome plating replaced by stainless steel wherever feasible).
  • considering the health and well-being of workers associated with the manufacture of our products
    (e.g. Stretch resin stool has been discontinued due to adverse health affects on makers).
  • reducing packaging (furniture is delivered using recyclable and recycled packaging).
  • manufacturing in Australia to minimise energy used in transport freight.

schamburg+alvisse Recopol™ products:

025 chair, 050 conference chair, 050 tub chair, stretch stool
  • Recopol™ recycled resin mouldings comprise post-consumer and post-industrial engineering grade resins redeemed from the automotive, home and office appliance and electronic and industrial waste streams. Globally this is a fast growing waste stream and the majority of these disposed products presently go to landfill.
  • Recopol™ conserves valuable resources, minimise waste to landfill, reduce greenhouse emissions through eco-efficient production and reduce the demand for timber from our precious forests.
  • 50% less greenhouse emissions and 80% less energy are used in the production of Recopolª recycled resin compared to virgin resin.

Useful environmental + eco-design links:


Excellent bedtime reading:

  • Time in Design– product value sustenance
    Ed van Hinte, 2004
  • Design + Environment. A global Guide to Designing Greener Goods
    Helen Lewis & John Gertakis, 2001
  • A New Design Philosophy: an introduction to defuturing
    Tony Fry, 1999
  • Lightness:the inevitable renaissance of minimum energy structures
    Beukers, Adriaan and Ed van Hinte, 1998
  • User-Centred Graphic Design: Mass Communications and Social Change
    Frascara, Jorge, 1997
  • Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk
    Beck, Ulrich, 1995
  • The Idea of Design
    Buchanan, Richard and Victor Margolin, 1995
  • Discovering Design: Explorations in Design Studies
    Buchanan, Richard and Victor Margolin, 1995
  • Industrial Ecology
    T.E. Graedel and B.R Allenby, 1995
  • The 1994 New Economics report Beyond Recycling (PDF 2.5MB)
    by Tim Cooper
  • Remakings: Ecology, Design, Philosophy
    Tony Fry, 1994
  • The Material of Invention: Materials and Design
    Ezio Manzini, 1989
schamburg + alvisse - australian made designer furniture