Home Furnishings Leaders Offer Ideas On Environmental Best Practices

Think fast and get ready to act! Here are some innovative ideas that are already working successfully for other home furnishings businesses.

As part of the application for this year’s Sage Award, we asked furniture and bedding manufacturers, retailers and suppliers to share their best ideas related to sustainable business practices, social responsibility and profitable growth. Here’s a look at fourteen exceptional organizations (in alphabetical order) transforming their businesses with an eye on sustainability.

Best Practice #1 Submitted by Bernhardt

Committed to environmental excellence in all of its business activities, furniture manufacturer Bernhardt includes environmental statements as part of its monthly safety training and recognizes employees who contribute ideas.

Best Practice #2 Submitted by Cisco Brothers

Dedicated to keeping its manufacturing center in the heart of South Central Los Angeles (even after the 1992 Los Angeles riots), this innovative organization contributes to its community by acquiring and renovating abandoned buildings to house its showrooms and providing space for local community groups to meet.

Best Practice #3 Submitted by C.R. Laine

With an eye on recycling and conserving wherever possible, home furnishings manufacturer C.R. Laine encourages all office and plant employees to recycle and reuse paper, plastic, water, aluminum, and printer ink cartridges. They also switch off lights and computers during lunch and at the end of each day.

Best Practice #4 Submitted by Environment Furniture

This manufacturer is working to reduce its environmental footprint by providing incentives for employees to carpool or to buy hybrid vehicles. They also purchase carbon offsets equivalent to the emissions generated by employee commuting.

Best Practice #5 Submitted by Hickory Chair

Winner of the 2008 Sage Award, Hickory Chair’s environmental impact programs include adjusting production schedules to better utilize high-energy use systems such as dust collection and air compressors.

Best Practice #6 Submitted by Homestead House

As a manufacturer and retailer, Homestead uses only battery-operated loading equipment (forklifts and tow motors) to help eliminate fumes and exhausts.
They wrap furniture in reusable blankets for shipping.

Best Practice #7 Submitted by Lack’s Valley

This retailer built a state-of-the-art warehouse engineered to stay cooler while reducing energy consumption and recycling approximately 95 percent of the solid waste it produces.

Best Practice #8 Submitted by Lee Industries

Choosing to make environmentally-conscious options standard in its upholstery products at no extra cost, this manufacturer offers cushions that are 20 percent soy-based; the company uses soy-based content for its arm padding and water-based stains for its wood finishes.

Best Practice #9 Submitted by Naturaworld

As part of its reuse/recycle program for office and production waste, this bedding manufacturer uses dry erase boards, projectors and company-wide teleconferencing to reduce the need for paper in meetings. Plus, they have automated communications with online ordering, electronic order confirmations, and electronic proofing.

Best Practice #10 Submitted by Nature’s Cast

This organization’s energy reduction practices include compressed work weeks, use of bio-fuels, a green procurement policy, and rainwater collection and water conservation systems.

Best Practice #11 Submitted by Palecek

In addition to nurturing the environment, Palecek gives back to communities around the world by striving to preserve the cultural heritage of craftspeople that help make its products. They invest in schools and local arts programs in the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries with operations facilities.

Best Practice #12 Submitted by Rooms to Go

This furniture retailer has transformed its distribution centers by recycling more than 90 percent of its total waste stream and utilizing industrial engineers who work with general managers across facilities to reduce energy consumption by reviewing lighting, battery charging, hours of operations and other consumption.

Best Practice #13 Submitted by Valley Forge

In addition to the environmentally-friendly fabrics they produce, this company is making recycling mandatory on company premises and also donates thousands of pounds of fabric each year to schools and community programs.

Best Practice #14 Submitted by Vaughan-Bassett

Vaughan-Bassett started using a veneer grinder last year to eliminate 328 tons of landfill waste. The output from this grinder is used to replace coal fuel or can be sold to a particleboard plant.

Click here for more inspiring Best Practices from these companies

 

Do you have a Best Practice you’d like to share? Email it to Jessica_Koster@cargill.com, and we may use it in a future issue of the BiOH Bulletin!