Wooden furniture

The wood extraction may contribute to deforestation or either to be a life giving resource to forests and plantations, depending on the way they are handled. If we want furniture of solid wood, let us see that they are made out of wood coming from sustainable exploitations.

How can we do it

The FSC label (Forest Stewardship Council) identifies the wood has been managed according to sustainable parameters either in forests or plantations. Let us see which furniture manufacturers use FSC wood in our country.
In order to promote the local raw materials, we should ask the vendors about the origin of the wood, either if it is virgin or reused. Many times they will not know about it, but they will know that we want to ascertain it.
Tropical wood, the less the better. In this case it is especially important that it has a certificate, since tropical forests are the ones which in more cases are exploited in an unsustainable, illegal and violent way.

The planks type MD ("medium density", also called MDF) and chipboard is fibres glued together, wood particles that may come in part of wood waste fibres from carpentry, gardening and pallets... They are made using a synthetic resin containing urea and formol, an irritating substance catalogued as possibly carcinogenic that will always emanate in lower or higher quantities. In order to moderate curb down the consumption of virgin wood, let us look for MD furniture or chipboard with a low contents of formol.

How can we do it

The MD planks and chipboard category E1 use a lot less formol than others. As we do not have the habitude to ask for it, it is easy that neither the vendor nor the manufacturers know it, but let us insist, there is plenty of production and if they look for it, they will find it.
The planks covered by laminate (called veneer) have a similar looking like solid wood, but they cannot be so much worked upon (decorative moulding, etc.). The wood panels (melamine and formica) can also look like the grains of wood.

For wood treating are usually employed products having thinners that on being applied they liberate volatile organic compounds, VOC, which are contaminating and toxic. Let us treat the furniture or let us seek the ones which are treated with natural products that contain at most a little proportion of lightly toxic substances.

How can we do it

Some brands of natural products for wood which are sold in many countries: Livos, Biodur, Baucent i Tamis, Biofa.

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Data d'actualització: 10/06/2010 - 19:32