Upholstered Furniture Cushion Fill

One of the goals of this blog is to provide educational information on the various green aspects of furniture and home accessories available to consumers today. Today's topic is the make-up of the internal components (cushion materials) of upholstered furniture.

In order of least eco-friendly to most eco-friendly, the internal components are polyurethane foam, soy based foam, natural latex foam, and wool. Following are descriptions of these materials:

Polyurethane foam, as an oil based material, is the last cushion material that Eco-Living In Style we would want to use for our furniture cushions. Unfortunately, it is currently the most commonly used material, but on many levels it is not the best. Though polyurethane is very comfortable and resilient it is also highly flammable (after all it is oil based). In order to reduce its flammability, manufacturers of polyurethane cushions have to coat it with large amounts of flame retardants to meet the US government regulations for safe household use. So, if the fact that it’s a flammable oil based material and that it must be soaked and coated with anti-inflammatory chemicals doesn’t turn you off, maybe knowing that these two aspects cause a high level of VOC output will turn you against using polyurethane cushions in your furniture.

While it is not rated for carcinogenicity, and no exposure limits for polyurethane have been established by the US government, polyurethane dust which contains toluene diisicyanate can cause irritation to the eyes and lungs and other as-of-yet unmeasured health problems. The chemicals in polyurethane that contribute to indoor air pollution are known to be possible carcinogens according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Likewise, the flame retardant known as polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) is commonly used in the US, despite bans in Europe starting in 2004. The problem with PBDE flame retardants is that they accumulate in our bodies, get passed on to our children through breast milk, and may cause liver toxicity, thyroid toxicity, and neurodevelopmental toxicity. It is very important for us as consumers to be on the look out for these materials in the products we buy and avoid them whenever possible.

A good substitute to polyurethane foam is to use soy based foam which blends the petrol-derived polyurethane foams with the more natural and healthy soy foam. Although most manufacturers only blend about 20 percent of these cushions with soy this is a step in the right direction. Soy foam also has a strong odor that manufacturers are working to minimize. In addition, since it still contains polyurethane, soy foams require the use of PBDE flame retardants. So, although it is better than polyurethane we can do better in our purchasing decisions.

Another option for cushion fill is natural latex foam. Latex is derived from rubber trees and is, without a doubt, the greenest option for cushion fill. Not only does it come from a renewable resource, but it's inherently resistant to mold, mildew and dust mites, and is available with or without PBDE fire retardants. Although 100% natural latex is the most expensive of the available components, it can be synthetically produced and blended with its natural version to reduce cost, but this is a less than perfect solution, because it off-gases 4-PC that is a mucuous membrane and eye irritant.

In my opinion the best material to use for cushion fill is wool. Wool is 100% natural, sustainable and doesn’t necessitate the usage of any harsh chemicals in its production. It does have some drawbacks like the fact that it isn’t as resilient as the solid foams and will need to be “fluffed up” to maintain its form.

As a consumer, you are now in possession of the information needed to determine which internal components you want in your upholstered furniture. As the end user, I leave it to you to decide.

As always this is an open post blog site and I welcome any further information, comments and questions.

Signing off until the next post,
Lester at Eco-Living In Style

Forestry Stewardship Council

The FSC or Forest Stewardship Council is an international organization promoting responsible stewardship of the world’s forests through certificates for forest management and chain of custody administered by third party auditors. The council was created to change the dialogue about and the practice of sustainable forestry. The FSC establishes principles, criteria, and standards that span economic, social, and environmental concerns. Thus, FSC is not just affect sustainable harvesting techniques to help nature, but the communities within that environment as well. We at Eco-Living In Style applaud them for these efforts.
Our aim at Eco-Living In Style is to offer furniture manufactured by companies that source their wood from FSC certified suppliers. We have rejected requests to carry many product lines because they could not provide us with a chain of custody ensuring that the lumber was sustainably harvested or how it’s harvesting affects the human culture around it. Eco-Living In Style is becoming a member of FSC and invites you to visit their site at www.fsc.org.

Sustainable Furnishings Council

Eco-Living In Style has joined the Sustainable Furnishings Council. The council was formed in 2006 to promote sustainable practices among manufacturers, retailers, and consumers alike. As many of you, by now, know of our goals as a company, Eco-Living In Style was more than eager to join the council. Their goal is to help us all make greener choices in our production methods, sales tactics, and purchasing trends. If you want to learn more about how to make greener purchases as a consumer I encourage you to visit their website and learn about what makes furniture eco-friendly. We will provide links from the SFC as they update the site with new information as well.

Recycled Glass

The production of glass by all accounts is not in the least eco-friendly. The core substance of glass (sand and silica) is by our accountancy a recyclable and sustainable material, but the methods necessary to manufacture new glass uses vast amounts of energy and some of the fuels used to produce this heat emit great quantities of carbon dioxide and other chemicals into our atmosphere. However, the benefits of glass are undeniable and we at Eco-Living In Style consider it a necessary evil in today’s world. After all, who wants to live in a house without windows?

With that having been said, glass is recyclable and there are new less toxic ways to reheat it for reproduction into other useful products. Even if it isn't recycled the pure essence of glass can break down into sand like particles as if it were almost compostable which makes it a better alternative than plastic or aluminum. Yes there are chemicals and additives that can be put in glass to harden it or change its color, but again the core components of glass (inert materials) can erode back to some semblance of their initial state whereas plastics won't.

We at Eco-Living In Style (www.elishome.com) have selected many products made of recycled glass that are produced using new, less environmentally harmful methods in their manufacture. We plan on offering Hurricane lamps, glasses, candle holders (with soy candles of course) and lighting systems to name a few products on the new site. We've enjoyed searching for them and hope you will enjoy viewing them early next year when www.elishome.com is officially opened.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments about recycling and reusing glass in your home.

-Eco-Living In Style

Sustainable Upholstered Furniture

As we will discuss in many if not all of our posts there are many components of manufacturing sustainable and eco-friendly furniture. The products that will be offered at www.ecolivinginstyle.com will all possess some or all of these components. Again our goal is to offer you high end eco-friendly furniture that adheres to the principles of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Sustainable. Our upholstered furniture lines will be no different, but what is it exactly that makes upholstered furniture green, sustainable and eco-friendly? There are many factors from the wood frame, the cushion fill and backing, to the fabric that finishes off the product that make it green.

Firstly many of our furniture suppliers use 100% FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood. This means that the wood is harvested using practices that ensure its sustainability. Typically, it is sourced from tree farms that continually grow, cut and replant their stands ensuring a continual cycle of forest growth. No clear cutting and leaving the ground barren is allowed.

Secondly the fill can be made of a variety of sustainable and green materials. Wool sheared from sheep stock that is maintained for year over year harvest is often used for cushion and frame fill. The use of Soy-based (not petroleum-based) foam has been a growing eco-friendly and sustainable trend. Lastly, some of our furniture suppliers use organic cotton as a fill product in some of their components.

Lastly, there are the materials used to cover the finished product. www.ecolivinginstyle.com will offer upholstered furniture of all types, leather included. As for the leather; which in the past was not eco-friendly at all, we will only offer leathers that have been developed using plant oils in the tanning process. This is a relatively new manufacturing process and reduces the usage of the heavy metals that were once employed, uses plant based oils, and reduces the more harmful waste products of the tanning process. Although it may not be the greenest upholstery for furniture, science is working on it. I was able to find this link: http://www.blcleathertech.com/Uploads/PDFs/NovDec07-Whatisanecoleather.pdf which gives some detail of the new greener method of tanning leather. The other types of coverings employed are all highly sustainable and consist of hemp, flax, organic cotton and burlap to name a few.

As this is an open forum blog, we invite you to make any comments or suggestions to this interested here about green furniture and how we all can lead a more eco-friendly lifestyle with the products we buy. Our ecommerce store www.ecolivinginstyle.com should be open for business early next year where you will be able to see first hand the eco-friendly furniture and green accessories you can use to make your home fabulously eco-friendly.

-Eco-Living In Style

Welcome to Eco-Living In Style

Thank you for visiting our blog about living green with style. In the days, weeks, months and years to come we intend to offer our own knowledge about being green and maintaining a flair for style. It was our own endeavor to find well manufactured good looking furniture and home accessories that lead us to the creating of this blog as well as our ecommerce store www.ecolivinginstyle.com that will be open for business early next year.

On this venue we will discuss exactly what makes something green. Although very few things are "totally" green we believe that there are many companies that have a strong desire to make luxurious products that adhere in as best a way they can to the three R's and the S of manufacturing green (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Sustainable). We will share our own discoveries and interests in stylish green furniture and home accessories and the new trends of being Eco-Friendly In Style.

We have also made this blog an open blog so that you may as well share your own insight into our posts. After all, being green doesn't just pertain to your buying habits, but how you live, educating others on what might or might not be eco-friendly and bettering us all. As a reader of our blog, you may know something we have not discovered and we welcome all of your inputs as such. Thanks again and enjoy our blog!

-Eco-Living In Style