Vaughan, La-Z-Boy use AHFA program; earn environmental honors
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 13, 2005
High Point — By taking part in a voluntary environmental management system created by the American Home Furnishings Alliance, two furniture manufacturers have earned recognition from state-level environmental quality programs.
Vaughan Furniture's E.C. Dodson plant in Galax, Va., and La-Z-Boy Utah each have programs based on AHFA's Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture program. The program is intended to keep manufacturers in step with environmental legislation and regulations.
Vaughan won the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program's Exemplary Environmental Enterprise designation, which goes to facilities that have a comprehensive environmental management system and are committed to pollution prevention.
Using the EFEC system, the E.C. Dodson plant reduced its emissions, adopted recycling and energy-saving programs, and promoted employee and community awareness. In 2004, the plant recycled 100,000 pounds of cardboard.
"I used the EFEC program from AHFA to meet most of the requirements of the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program," said Neil Anderson, Vaughan's safety director and environmental manager.
Vaughan is the second furniture plant in Virginia to receive the recognition. The first was Stanley Furniture's EFEC-certified Martinsville plant.
La-Z-Boy Utah, which earned its EFEC certification in May, has been included in the Clean Utah Program sponsored by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. The program recognizes facilities that take steps beyond those required by law to prevent or reduce pollution.
The La-Z-Boy plant's recycling program has reduced its waste by 88 tons per year and increased recycling by 10%. In addition to cutting pollution, the plan generated additional recycling revenue and saved money on disposal fees.
"One of the items identified by the (EFEC) facility assessment was the inefficient use of energy," said Michael Hewett, La-Z-Boy director of environmental affairs. "A steam absorption chiller was replaced with a state-of-the-art electric chiller. Total energy use in the plant decreased by 41%."
For information on EFEC, contact AHFA's Bill Perdue, vice president of environmental affairs, at (336) 884-5000, ext. 117.
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