Reducing environmental impact of furniture manufacturing
Furniture manufacturing tips for reducing resource usage, more efficient manufacturing processes and less chemical use.
The main ways to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing furniture include:
- product design and purchasing
- reducing raw material use
- secondary machining losses through cut-offs
- spraying and coating
- assembly, packaging and returns
For your environmental improvement plans to be effective you should seek management and staff buy-in.
Use an environmental management plan in furniture manufacturing
The most effective way of improving your environmental performance is to use a systematic approach rather than a series of one-off ideas and projects. The most comprehensive method is to set up an environmental management system (EMS).
If you don't have the resources to implement a full EMS, you can still use some of the same steps to manage your resources and environmental impact. These include:
- getting the commitment of senior management to improve environmental performance
- reviewing your existing environmental performance to establish a baseline measure improvements against
- identifying areas for improvement
- creating an action plan of what will be done, by who and when
- setting targets and objectives for improvements
- regularly reviewing performance
For more information see on how to carry out an environmental review of your business.