Sustainable Furniture

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Sustainable Furniture
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Sponsored by
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Meeting the Standards International, National,
and Third-Party Certification

• National Standards
• LEED
• MTS

• International Standards
• FSC
• GREENGUARD
• ISO 14001

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The Triple Bottom Line

• Over their total life cycle, sustainable
• products provide
• Social
• Economic
• Environmental benefits

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Sustainable Manufacturing Issues Furniture

• Eliminate Toxins from Manufacturing Process
• Employing Clean Technology
• Systemized Environmental Programs
• Resource Reduction
• Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

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A Corporate Example Knolls 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

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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

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Sustainable Design Issues Furniture

• Materials
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Social Aspects
• Protecting the biosphere

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Adopting Standards Indoor Environmental Quality

• Independent testing
• In-house standards for low-emitting materials
• GREENGUARD certification

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Adopting StandardsSystemized Environmental
Programs

• Resource reduction
• Materials protocols
• Environmental management plans

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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

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Third-party Certification

• The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Establishes standard, respected worldwide
  principles of Forest Stewardship
• using chain of custody for users, such as
  Knoll.
• Promotes
• Environmentally responsible forest management
• Socially beneficial
• Economically viable management of the worlds
  forests

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Chain of Custody from FSC

• Ensures credibility
• Enables immediate verification of provenance

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Environmental Management Programs

• Comprehensive internal Environmental Health and
  Safety Plan
• ISO 14001-certification for manufacturing plants,
  such as Knolls East Greenville, Grand Rapids,
  Muskegon and Toronto facilities

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Materials Protocols

• Protect environmental integrity of products as
  design evolves
• Facilitate a change management process
• Balance environment, function and aesthetics
• Monitor company-wide compliance

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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

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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

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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

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LEED Opportunities using Furniture

• Recycled content
• Rapidly renewable materials
• Regional materials
• Low-emitting materials
• Certified wood
• Textiles
• Waste management
• Green housekeeping

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Knoll LEED Projects

• 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
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Thanks to our Sponsors