Sustainable Furniture Council working on standards
Aims to get industry to help protect environment
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, July 31, 2007
AT THE MARKET — What furniture deserves to be called “sustainable?” The Sustainable Furniture Council is working on an answer and hopes to have standards in place later this year, the group’s leaders reported here Tuesday.
Gerry Cooklin, CEO of case goods manufacturer South Cone Inds. and president of the SFC executive committee, said another committee is working define the parameters of sustainable furniture practices.
The mission of the SFC is to convince furniture makers and importers to use raw materials in a way that helps protect the environment, particularly in an age of global warming and concerns about the earth’s future.
“Not everyone will be a member just because they send in money,” Cooklin told a crowd of about 30 attending the meeting. In 2008, the group plans to establish criteria for applicant, basic and exemplary members.
A key to true sustainability, he said, is to continue to seek improvement along the way. The standards will be the roadmap to achieving such improvements.
“We’re ready to expand our membership and reach now,” he said. “Sustainability is not just an event, it’s a journey.”
