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Office Furniture

Office furniture includes chairs and other types of seating, desks, tables, filing and storage cabinets and their associated components and accessories. These can be made from a variety of materials including metal, wood and wood-based products, plastic and fabric.

Issues

Some of the environmental issues associated with office furniture include:

  • using wood from a non-sustainable harvest
  • possible emissions from formaldehyde, adhesives, binding agents, paints or finishes used in the product
  • HCFCs used as blowing agents for polyurethane foam
  • metal plating process for furniture that can contain toxic chemicals and human carcinogens such as hexavalent chromium and nickel.
Pointers
  • Reuse existing furniture where possible.
  • Check the Environmental Choice list for any licensed products, including paints to be used for finishing.
  • Use the checklist (below) with suppliers and manufacturers if no Environmental Choice products are specified.
  • Check the New Zealand Government Procurement Timber and Timber Products Procurement Policy Guidelines. The Government expects its agencies to take all reasonable steps to ensure that timber and timber products, including tropical timber and timber products, are from legally logged and sustainably managed sources. This includes rough-sawn and dressed timber; plywood and veneers; fabricated wood; wood structural components, fittings and joinery; and wooden furniture.

    These Guidelines apply to procurements of products for use within New Zealand with a contract value over $50,000. The Guidelines also state that sustainability issues should be considered in the procurement of timber valued at or below $50,000. The Guidelines give a list of recognised timber and timber product certification schemes.

Useful resources and information

Case study: furniture

Very little new furniture was used in Environment House, as the Ministry decided to re-use existing furniture, including screen dividers, desks, chairs, meeting tables, filing cabinets, book shelves etc.

Technical checklist

Key ingredients to avoid: formaldehyde, aldehydes, and 4-phenylcyclohexene , other volatile organic compounds, CFCs or HCFCs.

Use this checklist with your supplier or a manufacturer if there are no product specifications with environmental criteria or when products with an ecolabel (eg, Environmental Choice New Zealand) are unavailable.

Do the timber products have a recognised Timber and Timber Product Certification Scheme, eg, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)? (See Annex 2 of the Government Procurement: Timber and Timber Products Procurement Policy Guidelines for a full list of recognised schemes.)  
If timber products are not certified, can you provide other evidence that the wood is sourced from sustainably managed forests or plantations that limit adverse habitat, biodiversity and toxicity impacts?  
If the timber is from a local source, can you provide evidence that the harvest is in compliance with New Zealand environmental legislation?  
Does the product contain low-VOC adhesives, paints and finishes?  
Was the manufacturing process free of carcinogenic and/or toxic chemicals wherever practicable? How?  
Were CFCs or HCFCs used as blowing agents in manufacturing any foam components?  
Can the product be remanufactured at the end of its life?  
Does the product contain recyclable materials such as steel and aluminium as well as products with a recycled content such as recycled PVC or post-consumer PET plastic?  
Is the product easy to disassemble? Or does it contain co-injected plastics, ie, materials that contain two types of plastic or plastic and a fibre (which makes recycling difficult)?  

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