Living Green: The Missing Manual

Nontoxic Furnishings

Your brand-new living room set looks great—but did you know it may be polluting the air in your home? Just like cleaning products, new furniture can give off VOCs (VOCs and You), thanks to off-gassing, which means giving off the chemicals used to make the product. For example, your new sofa's cushions and the chemicals that make them stain- and fire-resistant all emit VOCs. So do the glues used to make furniture, including the glue that holds particleboard together. So while you're sitting in your living room watching the tube, you may be breathing in formaldehyde, benzene, dioxins, and other VOCs. (They say watching TV is bad for you, but it doesn't have to be that hazardous.)

You may also want to think about how your furniture was made and what impact that had on the environment. Take that new sofa, for example. The foam in its cushions is made of polyurethane, a petroleum-based material that isn't exactly earth-friendly. To make just one pound of polyurethane foam requires nearly a pound of crude oil, half a pound of coal, and 400 gallons of water—and spits 4.5 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Also, unless the cotton used to make the couch's fabric was organic, the cotton was sprayed with pesticides. In addition, up to half of the dyes and other chemicals used to treat the fabric got washed back into the environment as waste. And where did the wood for the sofa's frame come from—a well-managed, sustainable forest or an at-risk one?

Your buying decisions make a difference. Use your wallet to vote for furniture that's both healthy and environmentally responsible by considering these options:

• Buy used. Whether you go to a fancy antiques store, the local thrift shop, or check the classifieds, buying used furniture has several green advantages. Because it's not new, the furniture has already done its off-gassing, so you're not bringing VOCs into your home. Buying used also saves the energy that would have gone into manufacturing brand-new furniture and keeps perfectly good, usable furniture out of landfills.

• Buy recycled.You can find beautiful furniture made from reclaimed wood, salvaged lumber that comes from old buildings like factories, warehouses, barns, and houses. If you need new carpeting, look for carpet with recycled content (Kitchen and bathroom cabinets), which does less off-gassing than traditional carpet.

  Tip

  Reclaimed wood is also an earth-friendly source for flooring and paneling, as Floors explains.

• Buy handcrafted. When you buy furniture directly from the artisan who made it, you can ask questions about how it was made or commission a piece that fits your needs.

• Buy floor models.Furniture that's been on display in a showroom has already done most of its off-gassing, so it'll release fewer VOCs into your home.

• Buy natural. When you're buying drapes or upholstered furniture, insist on natural fabrics like organic cotton, linen, hemp, and wool. Compassion in Fashion tells you more about what to look for when buying organic fabrics.

• Buy certified. Wooden furniture looks good and is made from a natural material, but you want to be sure that the wood was harvested responsibly. Wood is a renewable resource, and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is committed to promoting sustainable forestry worldwide. When you buy an FSC-certified product, you know it came from a responsibly managed forest. Check out FSC's website (www.fscus.org) and do a product search.

If you do buy brand-new furniture, carpets, or drapes, open the windows! Increasing ventilation lets VOCs out and fresh air in. Use fans to get the air moving and bring in as much fresh air as possible. A few days with the windows open will greatly reduce the levels of off-gassed VOCs in your home.

If you can't open the windows (you live in the snow belt and had your new carpet installed in January, say), climate control is the second-best way to reduce off-gassed VOCs. These chemicals love warm, humid conditions, which make them evaporate faster. Keep the temperature cool and the air relatively dry to make them off-gas more slowly.

Tip

Stainless steel furniture looks sleek and contemporary. It won't off-gas—and it's likely to be high in recycled content.