Tips For How To Choose Eco-Friendly Furniture

Posted on Apr 20, 2021 in Green Living, Sustainable Living & Sustainable Lifestyle by Fischer Speer 0 Comments

Whether you love to decorate or don’t know a chaise lounge from a Queen Anne, you can still make an impact on the environment by choosing sustainable, green living furniture

The idea of eco-friendly furniture has taken off in recent years as people come to realize that, just like the car they drive and the bags they use at the grocery store, furniture is something that almost every person has in their home. Making changes in what you buy can have an impact.

Buying eco-friendly furniture is a sustainable choice that supports the idea of green living. Much like getting rid of plastic bags or low-mileage vehicles, it’s a small but important contribution people can make to protect the environment.

Choosing eco-friendly furniture is not difficult, once you know the major tips involved in doing it right.

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Tips For Buying Eco-Friendly Furniture

The basic definition for eco-friendly furniture is furniture that uses materials and building methods that have the smallest possible impact on the environment. To fill your home with this type of furniture, keep these five pieces of advice in mind.

Sustainable Wood

Every type of furniture has a sustainable choice. In the case of wood furniture, it’s choosing a wood source that is sustainable. But where to find such wood? A good place to start is with the Forestry Stewardship Council certification. The council provides certification to businesses for forestry management and other related areas. For those who want to make their home greener, saving trees is a great place to start.

Reclaimed Wood

Another great choice is to use reclaimed wood. This is becoming a larger trend as designers understand the value of (and growing market for) using the wood that’s already available rather than virgin wood from trees. Many companies offer reclaimed wood, including Etsy, West Elm, Burrow, Thuma and The Citizenry.

Recycled Materials

Much like recycled wood, designers also have started to make more furniture from recycled metal and plastics than in the past. The market has grown for the simple reason that more people than ever are aware of the impact of creating products from new plastic and metal resources. Recycled materials require less processing, fewer resources and create a stronger market for recycled products.

If you can’t find the right eco-friendly furniture made from recycled materials, then another option is to find furniture that can be recycled. Some companies design furniture so people can break it down into component parts for recycling. While what you buy is made from new material, at least you are doing your part by ensuring it will get recycled when you no longer need it.

Durable Furniture

This is an often overlooked aspect of picking eco-friendly furniture (or cars and other goods). If a piece of furniture is durable, then the odds you will need to get rid of it and add it to a landfill diminish greatly. Why get rid of something that is working perfectly fine? If you can find durable furniture made from reclaimed wood or recycled metal and plastic, so much the better.

These tips can help guide you as you search for eco-friendly furniture. While green living can sometimes seem like a complicated subject, the tips above show that sticking to some basic ideas can guide you toward making a positive environmental impact with your home furniture purchases.