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“There is nothing like consumers to really make change happen,” Keri Luly, Allsteel stewardship coordinator, told members and guests of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter January 20.
Speaking in Design Group’s conference area on A Healthy and Happy Workplace: The Role of Furniture, Luly said many manufacturers are now looking at what consumers do with their products environmentally when finished with them as well as the type of raw materials that go into their fabrications.
Many of these changes are being advanced by companies and businesses striving for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification or participation.
Luly pointed out that a number of things have to be taken into consideration before products are considered truly sustainable. These include the durability and reuse of furniture, and reduction or elimination of the toxic and hazardous chemicals that are used in the making of clothing and other petroleum-based products.
“Unless everything we wear is organic cotton or organic silk with organic dyes, we are wearing and sitting on a lot of toxic and hazardous chemicals. Most people don’t realize that if you are wearing anything polyester that is man made…most is made from petroleum, and petroleum products have a lot of pretty toxic stuff in them,” she said.
“When I first started in the environmental field, manufacturing companies were spewing all kinds of nasty stuff into the environment…stuff was going into the air…stuff was being dumped into the water and streams (with little or no concern for the environment.)
“Things have changed drastically over the years, and in the 1980s we started working with companies on voluntary environmental programs--things called pollution prevention and environmental management systems. Somebody finally figured out that doing things right for the environment was actually good for business; it wasn’t just an expense that business had to deal with.”
Luly said an unexpected payback for many companies making certification interior changes has been an increase in productivity. A company’s biggest expense is its people, not it buildings or energy costs, she said. If you can make employees more productive, that’s a better payback than through energy savings.
“Now we are taking another big step forward. Now we are looking at how we can do better still. A large part of it is because the market is pushing us in that direction. In the past it was always the regulatory people pushing, and it was always a real hostile confrontational kind of situation. Now we are looking at what we can all do better for the environment—we have gone beyond the factory,” she said.
In addition to productivity increases in the workplace, Luly said companies striving for environmental improvements are also finding a significant energy savings over the life of the building or its interior, healthier and more pleasant indoor environments for occupants, higher employee retention, increased real estate value, competitive advantage, and public relation value.
Other “surprising productivity discoveries” included shorter hospital stays for patients in well-lighted, windowed rooms, up to a 20 percent better test performance in schools, and increases in retail sales per square foot.
“Have the manufacturers changed their products or just changed the labels. It is hard to figure out what products are good for the environment. A lot of things you use today are labeled green which makes you wonder, did they change the products or just the labels?” she said.
Luly cautioned her audience to look closely at products to see if they are certified as good for the environment and to refrain from using those that off-gas dangerous fumes such as products using formaldehyde, cleaning products, copying machines, air wick deodorizers, and even the interiors of newly manufactured vehicles.
She suggested leaving the windows open on a new car for a couple of days while the “new smell” evaporates, and noted there is a return to water and white vinegar for many cleaning conditions.
Luly said consumers should look for product certification by a legitimate organization such as Green Seal, or for green groups that certify furniture and carpet.
She also recommended three Web sites where more information on sustainability is attainable—http://www.epa.gov, http://www.usgbc.org/, and http://www.greenbuildexpo.org/.