Furniture

Furniture's sustainability is difficult to gauge. First, there is no universally accepted means of calculating carbon footprints. In addition, it is estimated that manufacturers ignore [Page 169]75 percent of a product's footprint by omitting supply chain emissions. Furniture is composed of various raw materials, each with its own environmental considerations. Different manufacturing venues produce unique environmental impacts. Perhaps most significantly, an increasing amount of the furniture sold in North America and Europe is now imported from Asia. “Domestic furniture manufacturers” have increasingly become retail outlets for furniture manufactured abroad. As a result of importation, suppliers and producers are less subject to stringent conservation and pollution standards, and environmental impact increases with the transportation of furniture. In addition, life cycle information for a piece of furniture ...