GreenYour.com

For many, the office is like a home away from home. (In 2005, Americans spent more time at work than they did asleep in their beds, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)[1] That being the case, a comfortable desk and ergonomic office chair are imperative for healthy, happy employees. But those office furnishings can also keep the earth healthy and happy—if they're recycled, recyclable, renewable, and won't pollute indoor air.

What to look for when greening your desk

To go green, look for desks that have the following attributes. And if you want to go further, get furnishings that come with a green seal of approval.

• Easy disassembly and replacement parts available: If one part of the desk breaks or wears out, you can easily replace the broken piece and won't have to send the whole thing to the landfill.
• Third party certification for indoor air quality: Office furniture can offgas toxic chemicals and make the air in your office unsafe. Desks certified by GREENGUARD or other certifiers are guaranteed not to pollute the air around you.
• Recycled plastic or steel, FSC-certified wood, and/or remanufactured or refurbished materials: All of these options protect the environment by not requiring virgin materials or encouraging irresponsible logging. They also cut out the harmful manufacturing processes required to make new office furniture from virgin materials.
• Low- or no-VOC stains, paints, glues, adhesives, and finishes: These won't contaminate air quality and do not contaminate the environment with toxic chemicals during manufacturing.

Find it! Desks made of renewable or recycled materials

Choosing desks made from renewable or recycled materials helps you go green because...

• Desks made from recycled steel, plastic, and wood eliminate the need to harvest virgin resources from the earth (which protects wild spaces), use existing products that would otherwise go to the landfill, and require less energy in their remanufacture than new products.
• Desks that use low-VOC and nontoxic paints, stains, glues, adhesives, treatments, finishes, and dyes will not contribute to smog during their manufacture and, in use, will not offgas toxins that may affect employee health.
• Desks made of FSC-certified wood protect trees by ensuring that the wood came from sustainably-managed forests.
• Desks with easy-to-disassemble recyclable parts keep waste out of overcrowded landfills.
• Plants like bamboo grow quickly and are easily renewed. The harvest does not destroy the plant, leaving the soil and surrounding forest structure intact. Renewable materials like bamboo reduce demand for hardwoods, protecting virgin forest.

Eco-unfriendly desks are a dime a dozen, and their earthly track record proves it. They're made with non-renewable and toxic materials, have short lives, and are difficult or impossible to recycle. Earth-friendly options do exist, however, and are revolutionizing the way we work and how we do business.

Recycled materials conserve resources

Whether you opt for a wooden or steel desk, recycled materials are better for the environment than virgin materials. Recycled materials save energy: the steps required to supply recycled materials to industry (including collection, processing, and transportation) use less energy than the steps required to supply virgin materials to industry (including extraction, transportation, and processing).[2] Recycled materials also reduce pollution because no new items need to be dyed and treated with chemicals.

The manufacture of recycled products releases fewer emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases: recycling programs are estimated to have kept the equivalent of 39 million cars' worth of carbon out of the atmosphere in 2005.[3] Recycled products also eliminate the need to harvest virgin trees and other resources from the world’s forests and ecosystems, protecting watersheds and habitat for wildlife and understory plants. They also prevent new land from being cultivated for textile fibers, such as cotton or wool.

Sustainable resources protect forests and land

Many desks are made from hardwood trees taken from poorly managed forests. The importance of trees cannot be underestimated. They filter the air, stabilize the climate by absorbing CO₂, and provide habitat for 90 percent of all land-dwelling plants and animals.[4] It's estimated that an acre of trees can grow 4,000 pounds of wood per year while consuming 5,800 pounds of carbon dioxide and producing 4,280 pounds of oxygen.[5]

Eco-friendly desk manufacturers use wood certified by the FSC or reclaimed wood. Salvaging 1 million board feet of reusable lumber from an old warehouse can offset the need to harvest 1,000 acres of forest.[6] A leading office furniture manufacturer, Knoll, for example, has used reclaimed red birch logs recovered from Midwestern rivers and lakes.

Rapidly renewable materials protect forests and plants

Rapidly renewable materials are made from plants that are harvested within a 10-year cycle or shorter. A 60-foot length of bamboo, the most commonly used rapidly renewable material, takes only 59 days to replace, which is very little time compared to the 60 years required to replace a 60-foot tree.[7] A desk made of rapidly renewable materials, rather than long-cycle materials taken from virgin or old growth forests, slows the depletion of these finite raw materials.

A bamboo stand will also release 35 percent more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees and can sequester up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare. Bamboo is also very adaptable, and therefore can grow in a variety of ecosystems. With 1,500 or more species, bamboo can tolerate between 30-250 inches of rain per year and thrives from sea level to 12,000 feet.[8]

Nontoxic finishes and adhesives protect indoor air quality

Poor indoor air quality (IAQ), which can cause severe health problems, is in part caused by emissions from indoor furnishings. VOCs result from paint, adhesives and caulking, finishes, dyes, and more, while formaldehyde is applied to wood and particleboard.

The manufacturing of office furniture also emits VOCs, which creates smog, from the glues, stains, and finishes used. Eco-friendly manufacturers use VOC-free powder-based finishing coats. These finishes use less energy and decrease waste: only 60 percent of wet-spray paint actually stays on the product, but 95 percent of powder-based finishes remain there.[9]

Quality products result in less waste and more recycling

Recycling your desk at the end of its life prevents wood, steel, and plastic parts from going to the landfill, where its decomposition produces greenhouse gases and may release other toxic chemicals. In 2003, the United States generated nearly 6 million tons of wood waste that went to landfills.[10] The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends reusing and recycling wood to divert it from landfills or incinerators, thereby helping to protect human health as well as land, air and water resources.[11]

Certifications

Several independent organizations certify office furnishings that meet environmental criteria:

• Cradle to Cradle: This certification program by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) tests and certifies products to ensure that they employ environmentally safe and healthy materials; are designed for recycling or composting; use renewable energy; use energy and water efficiently in production; and are manufactured with an eye toward social responsibility. They certify office flooring and floor coverings, fabrics and fabric treatments used in office furniture, as well as office seating, desks and tables, storage and filing, and workstations.
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): A nonprofit organization that independently certifies that the wood used in office furniture and other products comes from forests that are sustainably managed in the areas of social, economic, and ecological impact.
• GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI): Tests and certifies office furnishings and other products for low chemical and particle emissions, ensuring that they are safe and will not pollute indoor air. Certification programs are available for desks, tables, seating, dividers, flooring, and more.
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Commercial Interiors (LEED CI): While LEED does not certify furniture products, buying eco-friendly office furniture can help you achieve LEED certification as a green office. LEED is a point-based rating system devised by the United States Green Buildings Council (USGBC) in 2000. You can get credits toward certification, for example, by using 30 percent salvaged, refinished, or used furniture, 10 to 20 percent recycled content furniture, or certified wood and rapidly renewable materials in furniture. Individual manufacturers can give you the specifics on which credits can be available from purchasing their products.
• Indoor Advantage Gold: Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) certifies products that do not emit more than one-half the threshold for individual VOCs established by the Chronic Reference Exposure Levels (CRELs). The CRELs, established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), establish safe limits for the emissions of 80 toxic chemicals from furniture and other indoor sources.
• ISO 14001: The International Organization for Standardization takes a holistic approach in helping businesses develop responsible environmental management policies. ISO certifies companies, facilities, and products and that meet its 350 International Standards for impact on air, water, and soil.

Related health issues

The EPA cites indoor air pollution as one of the top five public health threats in America.[12] In a recent study, the Berkeley National Laboratory concluded that 40 percent of all office sick days are related to poor indoor air quality (IAQ).[13] Their findings suggest that improved IAQ could increase productivity and reduce the occurrence of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) by 20 to 50 percent, with potential savings between $10 and $100 billion nationwide annually.[14]

SBS, also known as Tight Building Syndrome (TBS), Building-Related Illness (BRI), and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), occur when a building’s occupants exhibit symptoms such as dry, irritated eyes, nose, throat, and skin; fatigue; asthma, shortness of breath, coughing, and sneezing; dizziness and nausea; as well as headaches, migraines, and sinus problems.

Glossary

• formaldehyde: A flammable reactive gas belonging to the VOC family of chemicals. It is widely used in personal care products, building materials, insulation, and home furnishings. Ingestion of the chemical can cause severe physical reactions, including coma, internal bleeding, and death. The US Department of Health and Human Services considers it a probable human carcinogen.
• volatile organic compounds (VOCs): Gases released by a wide variety of products, including cleaning products, furniture, and dry-cleaned clothing. Paint and coatings alone account for 9 percent of all VOCs emitted from consumer and commercial products in the US, according to the EPA. VOCs can cause several health problems, ranging from headaches and respiratory inflammation to central nervous system diseases. VOCs are also considered a possible carcinogen.

External links

• Canada Safety Council - Air Quality at the Office
• The Economist - The Truth About Recycling
• MetrolopisMag.com - Avoiding the Landfill: Afterlife
• Friends Committee on National Legislation - FCNL's Renovated Green Building on Capitol Hill Take a tour of the eco-friendly office furniture in FCNL's recently greened office space.
• Waste Online - Textile recycling information sheet