Sustainability is the ability to maintain the qualities that are valued in the physical environment.

Most people wish to sustain:

• Human life
• Capability that the natural environment has to maintain the living conditions for people and other species
• The aspects of the environment that produce renewable resources
• The quality of life for all people, the livability and beauty of the environment.
• Sustainability issues arise everywhere – even in the production and consumption of furniture

Many sustainable practices are being identified as “green” initiatives.

Terms have arisen to express our sustainable concerns:

• Intergenerational equity – providing future generations with the same environmental potential as presently exists.
• Decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation - managing economic growth to be less resource intensive and less polluting
• Ensuring environmental adaptability - maintaining and enhancing the adaptive capacity of the environmental system preventing irreversible long-term damage to ecosystems and human health

So let’s bring this down to furniture and see why it is important that all industries strive for sustainability.

There has been a move in interior design to go GREEN, a new focus on environmentally friendly products and practices. While plastics and chemicals seemed like a good idea at one time, concerns about landfills, depleted natural resources and toxic off-gassing are now prompting the design industry to search for environmentally sound options.

How:

• Replenish the forests that lumber is taken from – use replenishable, managed forests
• Replace toxic glues and finishes with water-based products.
• Utilizing recycled, and recyclable, materials in everything from furniture to fabrics, to tackable surfaces to …………
• A products Green Story is critical to designers and end users alike as end users are clamoring more and more for green products.
• The commercial side of industry (not the residential) is driving the switch.
• Specifiers and users must be able to tell how products are constructed.
• Manufacturers need to have written policies explaining how their products are made and how they as an organization are environmentally responsible.
• The use of natural ingredients like sunflower seeds and baltic birch, replaces the use of plastics and chemicals.

Other ways are:

• Prevent pollution
• Reduce waste
• Reduce consumption of non-renewable resources
• Increase energy efficiency
• Minimize harmful emissions
• Eliminate waste and emissions associated with the production of products and services

Choices are to reuse, recycle, reject – first two options are sustainable objectives What % of our products can be re-used and which can be recycled determines our sustainability commitment.

Bold’s sustainability commitment:

• Modular engineered products afford us the opportunity to resize, reuse initial products.
• Brass inserts and bolts, assure initial fit and finish, reducing waste.
• We use recycled materials like Sunflower Board, Trend-Q…..
• We use recycled rubber, tackable surfaces where appropriate
• We use water based finishes and glues – no VOC emissions
• During the design phase, we review scrap, raw materials, water, electricity needs in the production of products.
• We recommend product size to a customer – so that we produce less scrap.
• We are Cradle to Cradle designers
• We design for easy recovery and reuse of materials.
• Embracing sustainable solutions and using C2C products can help reduce waste, improve air and water quality, conserve resources, and deliver significant health – and economic – benefits to business.