Sustainable Furniture

Sponsored by:

International Standards:

FSC

GREENGUARD™

ISO 14001

National Standards:

LEED™

MTS

Meeting the Standards: International, National, and Third-Party Certification

Over their total life cycle, sustainableproducts provide:

Social

Economic

Environmental benefits

The Triple Bottom Line

Sustainable Manufacturing Issues: Furniture

Eliminate Toxins from Manufacturing Process

Employing Clean Technology

Systemized Environmental Programs

Resource Reduction

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

A Corporate Example: Knoll’s Policies

Eliminate Toxins from Manufacturing Process

Lead, heavy metals and hazardous chlorinated compounds completely eliminated from production processes

State-of-the-art waste water treatment

Technical changes to process

Clean Technology: Developed and manufactured for clean technology from start to finish, including returnable, reusable packaging.

Eliminated VOCs and ODMs from manufacturing processes

Invested in UV curing systems

Switched to water-based paints and adhesives

Developed company-wide use of hot-melt glues

Introduced 100 percent recyclable fabrics

Sustainable Design Issues: Furniture

Materials

Indoor Environmental Quality

Social Aspects

Protecting the biosphere

Independent testing

In-house standards for low-emitting materials

GREENGUARD™ certification

Adopting Standards: Indoor Environmental Quality

Resource reduction

Materials protocols

Environmental management plans

Adopting Standards:Systemized Environmental Programs

Adopting Standards: Resource Reduction

Design for reduced material content in products

Establish minimum recycled content for raw materials

Use Techwood man-made veneers, reduce wood waste by 60 percent

Recycle all scrap metals, fabric, cardboard and paper

Invest $500K in returnable, collapsible shipping containers

Offer FSC-certified wood

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

Establishes standard, respected worldwide principles of Forest Stewardshipusing “chain of custody” for users, such as Knoll.

Promotes: Environmentally responsible forest management Socially beneficial Economically viable management of the world’s forests

Third-party Certification

Chain of Custody from FSC

Ensures credibility

Enables immediate verification of provenance

Environmental Management Programs

Comprehensive internal Environmental Health and Safety Plan

ISO 14001-certification for manufacturing plants, such as Knoll’s East Greenville, Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Toronto facilities

Materials Protocols

Protect environmental integrity of products as design evolves

Facilitate a change management process

Balance environment, function and aesthetics

Monitor company-wide compliance

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Analyzes the environmental impact of a product from beginning to final disposal

Design Production Transport/distribution/packaging Usage Disassembly/reuse, recycling, and end

of life management

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) Design Strategies

Low impact materials

Clean manufacturing

Healthy workplace/indoor air quality

Waste reduction/efficient use of resources

Durability/extended product life

Reuse and refurbishment

Ease of disassembly

“Recycle-ability”

Using National Standards: LEED

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

Purpose:

Define “green building”/establish common standards

Promote integrated design practices

Recognize environmental leadership

Stimulate green competition

Raise awareness of green building benefits

Transform the building market

LEED Opportunities using Furniture

Recycled content

Rapidly renewable materials

Regional materials

Low-emitting materials

Certified wood

Textiles

Waste management

Green housekeeping

Existing Building pilot projects:

Knoll Lubin manufacturing facility, East Greenville, PA

Knoll San Francisco showroom

New Construction projects:

United Nations Department of Protection

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

NRDC

• Centers for Disease Control

Lubin Building

Knoll LEED™ Projects

Thanks to our Sponsors: