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The word eco-friendly can conjure up so many eye-rolls and confusion about how the word can fit into our everyday lives. Not all of us have the desire to do hours of research or spend twenty minutes reading brand’s sustainability reports. So, when it comes to items in our home, how can we adopt an eco-friendly mind set? If the thought of heavy research about the environmental impact of a brand sounds meh, these tips offer an easy way for you shop for eco-friendly furniture in a quick doable fashion. And, feel free to use them in other areas of your life too. From your closet to buying gifts.
Shop Pre-Loved & Vintage First
They say that fast furniture is the new fast fashion. Our redecorating habits are creating a staggering amount of waste that amount to 12 million tons of furniture ending up in our landfills yearly. That number has more than tripled since the 1960s when only an estimated 2 million tons of furniture waste and furnishings wound up in our landfills. One answer to this decorative crisis is to try out an old environmental ethos. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
From your local vintage stores to sleek marketplace like Jayson Home or 1stdbids, there are a plethora of stores both online and in-person where you can shop for your next coffee table, desk or rug. You might even be surprised when you notice that a lot of yesterday’s styles have inspired what you’ll find in modern-day stores now. You can even visit Facebook Marketplace or your local Buy-Nothing group for furniture or decorative pieces to add to your home. And, be sure to give away or sell your old furniture too. The beauty of shopping pre-loved is that it helps to reduce waste and encourage recycling and reusing products that are already made.
Look For Recycled Materials
Athleisure brands aren’t the only ones who are embracing recycled materials. Furniture brands that typically would have made Adirondack chairs from simulated wood made from virgin plastics are now designing with recycled materials. Sourced from ocean plastic waste like milk jugs, detergent bottles or single-use water bottles, these materials are an innovative solution for re-designing plastic waste into something new. And, they offer the same durability and other futures that you would normally expect from your conventional furniture products.
Virgin plastics have a devastating negative impact on our environment. Around 50% of plastic products produced are single-use items like packaging and 25% account for consumer goods like furniture and electronic goods. In 2015 around 270 million tons of plastic products were created and around 80% of disposed in landfills. General household items like furniture or kitchen utensils accounted for 37 million tons of plastic waste. The long-term degradation of plastics in our landfills results in these items breaking down over the course of decades while releasing CO2 and methane into our atmosphere and toxins into our water and soil sources.
Choose Natural
While recycled plastics are better than virgin plastics, do you know what the best materials are? All natural materials that haven’t been heavily processed with chemicals or toxic dyes so that they can decompose naturally are the gold standard. When shopping for eco-friendly furniture seek out wood, cotton or linen materials. Take it a step further and seek out organic fabrics or regenerative wood items like bamboo. And, if you really want to help protect forests look for brands that use wood that is certified by organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council for being managed and harvested in responsible and environmentally-conscious ways.
For your own health seek out furniture that is not laced with flame retardants or formaldehydes. These chemicals have traditionally been used in furniture products as coatings and adhesives. However, these chemicals can be released into the air and can cause breathing problems and possible risks for cancer. Instead, as specified by the CDC, limit your exposure by choosing furniture that is does not contain formaldehydes or is made from solid wood or stainless steel.
Buy For The Long-Run
Another way to shop for eco-friendly furniture is to adopt a slow fashion ethos when it comes to decorating your home. Buy less. Choose well. As mentioned before, this habit of adopting a throw-away culture is creating a staggering amount of resources being wasted and landfill waste that results in greenhouse gases emissions. One way we as consumers can help to mitigate these problems is by investing in furniture that will last us a lifetime and is able to be passed on to others.
Well-made items don’t have to be thrown out when they have a little rip or tear. A lot of retailers will repair and fix their furniture pieces for you. Some shops even offer to fix furniture from other brands. And, if you need a style upgrade, some will paint or refurbish pieces to breathe new life into old furniture items.
Give
Give your items a chance to have a new life before throwing them out. Instead of tossing out old furniture pieces, take the eco-friendly route and donate your pieces to a thrift store or give away to a friend or neighbor. Put them up on eBay or Facebook marketplace. Or sell them to a consignment shop. These might seem like small actions, but every time we reduce waste and recycle or reuse, we’re taking drastic steps towards a more sustainable future.