Furniture
How to help reduce deforestation through furniture choices
Every action and movement we make on a daily basis has a different impact on the environment. Although we may not be aware of it, turning on the tap and letting the water run, not recycling or always leaving the light on can have harmful consequences for our planet.
But not only can we contribute to the improvement of the environment with our daily actions but, for example, if we have a sustainable home with sustainably designed furniture we are also preventing the destruction of forests.
In this post we are going to tell you how to avoid deforestation, which sustainable furniture you can choose for your interior design project and how Pau contributes to the prevention of deforestation with its ecological furniture.
How to avoid deforestation
According to WWF’s report “Increasing the pace: the continuing impact of EU consumption on nature”, the EU is responsible for 16% of imported tropical deforestation, second only to China. If no action is taken, 2.3 million square kilometres of forest are likely to be lost between now and 2050.
Plantation destruction is a global problem that affects all living things, not just humans. The long-term consequences of deforestation can lead to global economic and environmental instability.
Deforestation not only affects the water cycle in nature, but also the forest is a natural source of raw materials, fuels and other components that we need to survive.
We may think that one of the simplest ways to help prevent deforestation is to plant a tree, but that is not enough. We have to go further with the decisions we make every day at home, at work, when we go shopping… That is why some of the measures we can take to reduce deforestation include:
- Avoid massive use of paper
- Recycle as much as possible
- Buy organic food or food from sustainable shops
- Buy recycled products
- Seek FSC certification for wood and wood-based products
- Do not litter in forests
Reduce deforestation with sustainable furniture
As you have seen, preventing deforestation is in our hands by taking simple, everyday actions.
In the home, by choosing sustainable and eco-friendly furniture for interior design, we are also helping to reduce deforestation.
Whether a piece of furniture is sustainable or not depends to a large extent on its life cycle, its lifespan and its subsequent waste management. In other words, the circular economy model is taken into account at all times during the production of an eco-friendly piece of furniture.
One of the fundamental building blocks for furniture manufacturing is wood. Ecological furniture is made from wood that comes from sustainably managed forests. These forests promote the replanting of trees and prevent the deforestation of ecosystems through illegal logging.
Make sure that the wood used has the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) label.
The most commonly used wood is pine, oak or beech because of its excellent characteristics. Rubberwood is also gaining ground and is considered environmentally friendly because it comes from renewable sources, i.e. from plantations that have already fulfilled a useful function.
For example, in the Pau catalogue there is the Glasgow sofa, which has a structure made of beech and pine wood and is upholstered with high-density HR foam rubber padding. Discover more about our eco-friendly sofas.
Sustainability and design in PAU
At Pau, as a sustainable furniture brand, we are very conscious of respecting the environment, and this is something we apply to all our projects.
The frames of the sofas and armchairs in the Pau catalogue are made from pine and beech wood from sustainable forests, where controlled felling is carried out and the trees are replanted with new ones.
In addition, the companies we work with and 90% of our suppliers are local, and are located just a few kilometres from our facilities.
On the other hand, we have recently installed 103 solar panels at our production centre, which will enable us to produce between 60 and 65% of the energy we use. Specifically, with this action we are going to avoid the annual emission of 16,170 kg of CO2.
In the case of the insoles used for manufacturing, they are not plastic and can be reused as many times as we want, being recycled when they are no longer used.
In the case of the fabrics, those that are no longer used are sent to a foundation that converts them into new pieces, the profits from which go to the AECC breast cancer charity.
Finally, we recycle more than 90% of what we produce, and the by-product we generate is converted into new boards and what is no longer useful into biomass.
Visit the Pau website now to learn first-hand about our working methodology and download the complete PAU sustainable furniture catalog with all the models available.
