While California’s official plastic bag ban might have gotten the most media attention lately, a different bill from the Golden State could have a much bigger environmental and health impact on the whole country.
The Guardian reports that starting Jan. 1, the state will require furniture manufacturers to label consumer products containing flame-retardant chemicals — a change that could alter the entire furniture industry and literally change how we sit (for the better).
In case you didn’t know, the upholstered furniture in our homes, schools, businesses and hospitals are potentially toxic and dangerous. Why? Due to a well-intentioned but ultimately misguided rule called TB-117 which California enacted in the 1970s (that unfortunately trickled down to furniture manufacturers nationwide), our beloved couches are very likely stuffed with flame-retardant filling.
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What’s not good about that? Well, the National Resources Defense Council (NDRC) calls it a “classic example of a stupid use of a chemical: they are ineffective in preventing furniture fires and are linked to serious health effects.” This includes lower birth weight, reduced IQ (similar to lead poisoning), hyperactivity, poorer coordination, reduced fertility, birth defects, hormonal changes and cancer, the Green Health Policy Institute warns.
As the video below illustrates, these chemicals seep out through couch coverings, mix with the air and get into our bodies and the environment. Young children are particularly vulnerable to exposure because they crawl and tend to put things from the floor into their mouth. Additionally, not only are these couches still incredibly flammable, the chemicals in them can make fires even more toxic by forming deadly gases and soot.
And don’t think you’re safe if you don’t live in California. Most couches purchased outside of the state also contain high levels of many different kinds of retardants, meaning most Americans are exposed. According to the NDRC, “Americans carry much higher levels of these chemicals in their bodies than anyone else in the world and California children contain some of the highest levels ever measured.” (Check this link here to learn how to check if your furniture has flame-retardant materials)
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The Guardian reports that while environmentalists and health advocates have been trying to fight TB-117 since it came out, the chemical industry has successfully pushed back their efforts through lobbying tactics for several decades. It wasn’t until 2012 when the Chicago Tribune ran exposés on flame retardant furniture foams that any serious legal efforts were made. (Last year, California lawmakers amended the outdated law, requiring that covers were flame resistant, rather than its filling.)
That’s why the new measure, Senate Bill 1019 (signed on Sept. 30 by Gov. Jerry Brown), is a big step forward to safer furniture, better health and cleaner air. While furniture makers can still technically create products with chemically laden material, they are now forced to indicate so on a label if they want to sell it in California. And since California has such a large share of the market, it’s likely that manufacturers will adapt this new rule for other states, too. Meaning that this law has the potential to affect citizens nationwide, not just Californians.
Hopefully, we’ll see toxic furniture phased out for good.
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Tag: furniture
6 Common Environmental Culprits That Need Regulation
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about California being the first state to ban plastic bags (even though Hawaii arguably deserves the title). This news is undoubtedly fantastic, but it’s really just a small victory in light of much larger environmental problems.
Adam Minter writes on Bloomberg View that the ban — now awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature — is much more symbolic than real: “Gestures such as these can be important in inspiring broader, more meaningful environmental reform. But they risk fueling a self-congratulatory complacency that distracts from more serious challenges.”
He’s got a point. As Minter says, the 3.4 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps thrown out in 2012 is just 10 percent of the 31.8 million tons of total plastics thrown away, or a mere 1.3 percent of the 251 million tons of solid waste generated annually.
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Plastic bags are just a start. Here are six other big, wasteful household items that deserve our attention, and more importantly, what can be done about them.
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Sustainable Furniture Company Puts Veterans to Work
What’s more all-American than serving your country in the Armed Forces? Well, for one, furniture that’s made in America by U.S. veterans.
As more young servicemen return home in search of work, the Arkansas-based company EcoVet is tapping into the veteran workforce to create all-American, sustainable furniture.
The company, which launched in 2011, trains former service members to design and create high-end furniture out of reclaimed materials from old semi-trailers — typically from Walmart — that are destined for landfills. Rather than adding to trash heaps, EcoVet strips materials from trailers like oak or maple floors to create custom-made items like an Adirondack chair, which retails for $850. The company also donates other parts such as plywood to the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity and tires to automobile shops.
EcoVet has trained and hired 28 veterans since its inception and aims to employ 500 over the next three years. Focusing on college-aged U.S. veterans — which have a staggering unemployment rate of 24 percent — EcoVet pays its workers about $15 an hour along along with stock options and flexible hours to help those that are going back to school.
“They’ve been taught how to get things done,” co-founder Drake Vanhooser told Fast Company. “They all have the skill of being adaptable.”
Thirty-year-old EcoVet shift manager Jeremy Higgs is pursuing an associate’s degree in agriculture, food and life sciences at a local community college. The veteran-friendly environment means employees are understanding of outside responsibilities as well as emotional issues including PTSD.
“Everyone is going through some issues,” Higgs said. “We give each other advice.”
EcoVet is slated to open three more decommission centers in Chicago, the Carolinas and Nevada to add to its Springdale, Arkansas factory. The first is expected to open in the next 18 months. With 15,000 to 20,000 scrap heap trailers going to waste each year, EcoVet is hoping to remove 10,000 trailers from the stream of garbage annually.
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Expansion shouldn’t be too difficult for a sustainable product that’s American-made by U.S. vets, according to Adrian Dominguez, the vice president for business development for EcoVet’s parent company, EcoArk. “It’s a profit center for us,” he said. “We manufacture furniture and wood accessories, and we are able to label it as 100 percent recycled, repurposed wood, made by American veterans, right here in the United States.”
Aside from furnishing Walmart vendors, EcoVet has managed to partner with wholesale retailer Sam’s Club, which features two lines on its website. EcoVet is also developing a high-end line for upscale retailers for the likes of stores like Macy’s.
The hope is to not only eventually pluck all scrap heap trailers out of U.S. waste, but to create a welcoming environment where vets can be proud of their work, too.
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Furniture You Can Throw Away Without Feeling Guilty
Trent Mayol was working at a paper-packaging company when his roommate called to tell him they were going to have to move apartments. It would be their fourth move together, and probably not their last. “I went in to work that day, and was surrounded by cardboard, and put two and two together.” The idea for SmartDeco, Mayol’s cardboard furniture company, was born.
Mayol is betting there are others like him with a nomadic lifestyle, people looking for a temporary furniture fix rather than expensive pieces they may end up regretting come their next moving day. Though data suggests that American’s are starting to move less — the average time spent in one house in 2013 was 8.6 years, up from five years in the ’50s and ’60s — Mayol says this hasn’t stopped his business from steadily growing. “I think people are fed up enough with existing options, and we are poised in a place to grow pretty rapidly.”
Furniture is one of the least recycled items, and the EPA estimates that nearly 9 million tons of furniture is wasted each year in the U.S. The folks at SmartDeco are hoping to curb that number with furniture that is 100 percent recyclable.
Meet Brad, an Autistic 25-Year-Old Who Wants to Build Your Furniture
If you’ve ever struggled to put together an IKEA dresser without wanting to commit hara-kiri with a screwdriver (and who hasn’t?), Brad has a solution — let him build it instead. Brad, who lives in Edmonton, Canada, is a 25-year-old with autism. He can’t read or speak, so he uses simple sign language to communicate. And he builds. For years, Brad has been building things — from furniture to model planes to interactive toys and more. It’s what he does best. What most people would consider a maddening and painstaking chore, Brad finds fun and easy. He can understand any diagram or blueprint, especially the wordless ones from IKEA, no matter how complicated. So with the help of his dad, Mark, Brad created a new business, Made by Brad; he’ll build any piece of furniture for you. The point is to instill a sense of accomplishment into Brad, and also to prove that people with disabilities are just as capable and dedicated — perhaps more so — as everyone else.
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