The sustainability movement is upon us, with new government initiatives and campaigns such as ’10:10′* popping up every week many of us are making a conscious effort to be more environmentally friendly and help meet the new government recycle targets.

According to a recent study by the BBC, businesses produce over 40% of carbon emissions in the UK! And given that for most of us workers, we will spend the majority of time in the workplace rather than in our homes – the office is an ideal place to start cutting our carbon emissions.

Here at BT office we suggest how making a few changes to your office furniture choices can make a substantial difference to your carbon footprint:

Furniture Materials

Whilst it is easy to implement recycling practices when it comes to paper, materials and waste – it may not be so easy to apply to office furniture and equipment. If you are an upscale professional office – purchasing second hand, used office chairs and office desks are probably going to be a no go area.

But did you know that brand new office furniture can also be environmentally friendly? Simply make smart choices when purchasing, for example:

Look for furniture that is produced using recycled materials – they may be recycled but will look brand new. For example reclaimed wood. Look for FSC certified products whenever possible (You have probably seen the FSC logo, it stands for Forest Stewardship Council and identifies products made from socially and environmentally responsible forestry).

Also buy with a view of recycling later. Look for new office furniture that you can recycle in the future. Selecting sustainable materials can be difficult but most product guides will list the materials used and this little guide may help:

• Melamine Faced Chipboard – Can be recycled with processing

• Veneered Chipboard, Plywood and Steel – Easily recycled

• MDF – Cannot be recycled, only reused

• Compact Laminate – Indestructible and non-recyclable

• Plastic – Difficult to recycle

Location and Shipping

Purchase office furniture from a nearby supplier – it is easy to forget how much carbon emissions result from transportation! Buying local can counteract this. If you do have to have your office furniture delivered choose a UK company rather than an overseas supplier, and opt for unassembled items where possible – the packing cartons will be smaller.

Replacing old office furniture

It is not just about buying new office furniture or equipment; consider how you dispose of your old items. If a piece of office furniture is damaged consider refurbishing it, for example a soiled reception sofa can easily be reupholstered.
If you want to throw out old furniture to bring in new pieces then sell them on to other companies as second hand goods, recycle them if the materials are recyclable, or try and give them away by placing an ad in your local paper/gumtree or exchange them on the freecycle* website.

*10:10 – 10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010, visit http://www.1010uk.org for more information.

*Freecycle is a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Visit http://www.freecycle.org for more information.

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