Sustainable and eco-friendly living doesn’t always equate to recycling bottles, reusing cardboard, or composting your food scraps. A sustainable home can extend much further than these practices and at the same time, be an integral part of your interior design.
When it comes to furnishing your house, you can very easily make environmentally responsible choices. Simply look for furniture companies that source their products ethically and practice eco-friendly measures to present high quality furniture that doesn’t come at the expense of our planet.
If you’re wondering how big of an impact sustainable furniture can have on our environment, here are just a few of the major benefits that this lifestyle choice can bring:
1. Reduces your carbon footprint
Because sustainable furniture goes beyond reusing and recycling, the entire process can help you reduce your carbon footprint significantly. Just keep in mind that for a piece of furniture to qualify as sustainable, there are four main elements to take into consideration.
- Materials. This factor often varies, as materials may be recycled goods, reclaimed materials, or derived from a source that has a low impact on the environment. A good example of a popular sustainable material would be bamboo, which is one of the fastest growing plants ever, and boatwood, which comes from decommissioned fishing vessels.
- Transportation and Building Process. Even if the materials are considered environmentally friendly, the furniture item would still not be considered sustainable if the building and transportation processes are not ethical. Materials should preferably be locally sourced and often, handcrafted, rather than machine-made.
- Durability. The item must have a long life span. After all, the objective is to reduce household waste, and that includes keeping your furniture for several years, rather than having to throw them out and find replacements every so often.
2. Makes use of discarded materials
Believe it or not, some of the most beautiful designer pieces that you may have seen were produced from discarded materials. This is a wonderful thing in the interest of our environment, as instead of contributing to landfills, those discarded materials are transformed into new, spectacular pieces.
Timber is a particularly versatile material in this case. Its appearance changes completely after it undergoes the processes of curing, sanding, and finishing.
3. One-of-a-kind pieces are created
Every piece of sustainable furniture holds a truly unique story. Even if the materials are used to build similar looking structures, the distinct markings that show their former life results in a masterfully individual piece that’s unlike any other.
It’s quite fascinating to think about what kind of former life those materials had led before they were transformed into the amazing piece of furniture in your very home. Imagine the dining tables or kitchen stools Sydney has out there that will one day be an entirely new and totally sustainable piece that’s yours to claim.
4. Any furniture can be sustainably made
With sustainable furniture, you have endless possibilities to choose from. Whether you’re looking for a chic and rustic bed frame, a classic and elegant entertainment unit, or a new and improved vanity table, you will definitely be able to find something that suits your style just right. The best part is, you can rest assured that all of it has been ethically sourced with no negative impact on the environment.
A little known fact is that furniture is actually one of the biggest culprits when it comes to landfill. But by making smart, sustainable choices, you are one step closer to changing that. Invest in sustainable furniture and support local businesses who share your mindset in valuing the state of our planet. Let’s all take one step forward into making the world a better, cleaner, and safer place to live.
