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Whether you're the type that spends hours thumbing through the IKEA catalog or someone satisfied with milk crates and a throw pillow, your furniture choices could make a big difference in your impact on the planet and your health. To help you become an organic couch potato, we got comfy at Planet Green's "How to Go Green: Furniture."
Top Tips for Greening Your Furniture
Local Heroes: Much like food miles, furniture miles can add up and thus the environmental footprint deepens. Look for local craftsmen, used shops, moving sales, and best of all: free furnishings on sites like Craigslist. Each will reduce the impact (and guilt) of your comfort.
Big Bamboo: A renewable resource because bamboo is "one of the fastest growing plants. It has a shorter growing cycle than timber, and harvesting bamboo does not affect the roots of the plant."
Limit Off-Gassing: Off-gassing is the release of substances into the air. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) typically off-gassed by furniture—like flame retardants and formaldehyde—are toxic and have been linked to birth defects, endocrine disruption, and cancer. To find low-toxicity furniture, check out Greenguard.
Did You Know?
- $11.9 billion were spent on office furniture made in the U.S. in 2005
- The concentration of volatile organic compounds and particulates in indoor spaces is 100 times higher than outdoors
- The average person spends 90% of their time indoors
For more on Furniture Tips check out Planet Green's Guide, How to Go Green: Furniture. For more on Going Green, check out the Planet Green How to Go Green Archives.
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