Recycled Content and Recyclability

1. Recycled content products are made from materials that would otherwise have been discarded. Currently this is one of the most prominent environmental strategies employed by furniture manufacturers. Widespread use of steel and fiberboard in contract furnishing accounts for much of the recycled content. However recycled content can come for numerous other sources including newspapers, milk jugs, bottle caps and any other material diverted from the waste stream. There are two types of recycled content: Pre-Consumer Material is that which been diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process and Post-Consumer Material that is generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of a product that can no longer be used for its intended purpose. Most furniture will have a combination of both types of recycled content.


2. Recyclability: According to Environmental Protection Agency approximately 3 million tons of office furniture and furnishings are discarded each year. Statistics for 2005 estimated that 8.8 million tons of furniture ended up in U.S. landfills. It is for this reason that the recyclability of a piece of furniture is as important is its amount of recycled content. Moreover, the percentage of recyclability goes hand in hand with the ease at which the item can be recycled. For instance, the Think chair by Steelcase can be disassembled for recycling in about 5 minutes using common hand tools. For more information on the Think chairs go to: SteelCase
   
   
3. More and more manufacturers are listing recycled and recyclable content in environmental profiles per product line. See below for links to the environmental profiles from some of our major manufacturers: Steelcase National

Renewable Materials and Certified Woods

1. Rapidly renewable materials are made from plants that are typically harvested with a 10 year of shorter cycle. Bamboo and cork are the two most widely known rapidly renewable materials, though furniture made from materials such as wheat board, sunflower, linoleum and Kirei board are becoming more common. Such products generally use sunlight as their primary energy input thus reducing the use of finite petroleum products. They also renew themselves much quicker than old-growth lumber products thus avoiding contributions to deforestation. However, when selecting rapidly renewable materials, it is important to examine how and where they are produced and the toxicity of other materials that may be added to them. Click on the link below for rapidly renewable materials available on products from Vanerum Stelter. At Your Surface
   
   
2. The most recognized of the sustainable wood certifications comes from The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world's forests. The FSC Principles and Criteria describe how the forests have to be managed to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations. Only manufacturers that have an FSC Chain of Custody (COC) certification are allowed to label products with FSC trademarks. COC certification ensures that manufacturers know how to track FSC product through the production process. The FSC label thus provides the link between responsible production and consumption and thereby enables the consumer to make socially and environmentally responsible furniture purchases. For more information on the Forest Stewardship Council visit www.FSC.org.

Indoor Air Quality

1. Buildings and the things we put inside them contain chemical and biological contaminants that are known to effect human health. When these contaminants volatilize into the air we breathe, they can result in acute symptoms and some long-term health effects. Chamber testing is the approved method by which furniture is tested for chemical emissions. In this method the furniture is placed into a steel chamber for a specific amount of time and air samples are drawn and analyzed to establish levels of various chemical compounds. There are two main certifying bodies for this chamber testing within the contract furniture industry: Greenguard and SCS Indoor Advantage. These certifications verify that products have safe levels of emissions and are both recognized within the LEED rating system. For more information go to www.greenguard.org or http://www.scscertified.com

Cradle to Cradle Certification

1. Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification is an independent third-party certification, created by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), which outlines environmentally intelligent design criteria in products. There are stringent standards to achieving this certification. It requires using environmentally safe and healthy material reutilization such as recycling and composting; conserving energy materials; designing for and using renewable energy, embedding water stewardship practices, and instituting strategies for social responsibility. Through our partnership with Steelcase, Waldner's Business Environments carries over 40 C2C certified products, the most in the industry. For more information on the Cradle to Cradle framework and to find other C2C certified products go to www.mbdc.com. For more information on Steelcase's Cradle to Cradle products go to Certified Products.

Level Certification

1. The new Level Certification was created by the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) as a multi-attribute, sustainability standard and third-party certification program specifically for the furniture industry. It has been created to deliver the most open and transparent means of evaluating and communicating the environmental and social impacts of furniture products in the built environment. It examines products in the following ways: materials, energy and atmosphere, human and ecosystem health and social responsibility then assigns a numeric value between 1 and 3 based on the threshold achieved in these areas. To learn more visit http://levelcertified.org/

Furniture and LEED

1. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Program -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a voluntary certification system designed to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places for people to live and work. If you're seeking LEED certification for your next project, the furniture that you choose can contribute in the following ways:
   
   Energy and Atmosphere
   
   i. Optimize Energy Performance
   
   Materials and Resources
   
   
   • Construction Waste Management
   • Resource Reuse
   • Recycled Content
   • Regional Materials
   • Rapidly Renewable Materials
   • Certified Wood
   
   Indoor Environmental Quality
   
   
   • Systems Furniture and Seating
   • Controllability of Systems and Lighting
   • Daylight and Views
   
   
   Innovation in Design For more information on LEED go to: USGBC.ORG



2. Waldner's Business Environments has contributed to the following LEED projects:
   
   Leviton, Melville, NY
   Morgan Stanley
   Honolulu, HI
   Palm Desert, CA
   Rochester, MI
   North Charleston City Hall, South Carolina
   Eastwoods School, Oyster Bay, NY
   Bank of Smithtown, Deer Park, NY
   Skanska, New York, NY
   MTV, New York, NY
   JP Morgan Chase, New York, NY
   PB, Denver, CO
   Itochu International, New York, NY
   Village of Amityville, Amityville, NY
   Inc. Village of Sands Point, Sandpoint, NY