Furniture

Avoid Conventional Furniture

Avoid conventional furniture, Engineered wood, such as particle board, plywood, and MDF. They emit toxic vapors, contributing to indoor pollution and health issues like asthma and respiratory problems.

The majority of mass-produced furniture is made with cheap particleboard or synthetic laminates. 

  • ❌ Synthetic material: Particleboard, flakeboard, plywood, Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF), veneers, or any other composite or engineered wood or other composite wood products can pollute indoor air quality, including high levels of formaldehyde (a human carcinogen). 

  • ❌ Engineered wood: Engineered wood in furniture is not environmentally friendly, as the production process is energy-intensive, and it generates toxic waste and pollution. 

  • ❌ Chemicals: in finishes, varnishes, polyurethanes, or stains.

  • ❌ Wood from overseas: It creates pollution from shipping, including millions of barrels of oil and the resulting release of CO2.   

  • ❌ Plywood: Plywood veneers use glue to stick wood peelings together with toxic chemicals, stick them onto a core of already extremely toxic MDF or particle board, and call this “wood” or “wooden” furniture. Plywood veneers are thin slices of wood peeled from a log, which are then used to disguise the low-grade, formaldehyde-based, wood scrap/dust boards used underneath. 

  • ❌ MDF or medium-density fiberboard is used for drawer fronts, furniture tops and backs, cabinets, laminate flooring, molding, and doors. The waste fibers used to make MDF are basically pulp, meaning fibers that have been chemically separated from wood splinters, and digested in a soup of other chemicals, including petroleum chemicals, disinfectants, bleachers, etc., creating the consistency of a “dung cake,” before being bound with a considerable amount of formaldehyde. The dung cake hardens into a flat surface through the application of chemicals, high heat, and extreme pressure. According to the EPA, MDF “is generally recognized as being the highest formaldehyde-emitting pressed wood product.”

  • ❌ Toxic Paints: Formaldehyde, benzene, and toluene, VOCs,

Avoid Greenwashing Furniture

Greenwashing is when a brand pretends to be organic, eco-friendly, natural, or safe when it is not. They use misleading greenwashing techniques, tactics, and claims to convince you to buy their products! ​

Avoid greenwashing furniture brands that make products that claim to be “non-toxic” but are made from known cancer-causing agents and contain toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, VOCs, and other carcinogens. ​

  • ❌ Not solid wood: Just because a piece of furniture says it is made from wood or wooden, doesn’t mean it’s 100% solid wood, or even contains any solid wood whatsoever. Composite and engineered woods are often called wooden or wood, and these man-made materials are toxic, and pollute indoor environments with chemicals, including known carcinogens, allergens, and developmental and reproductive toxins. 

  • ❌ Chemical stain: used to disguise low-grade wood shavings to make them look like walnut or cherry.

 

The large majority of furniture comes from outside the country, using questionable materials, working conditions, processes, and protocols. They are cheaply and quickly made to satisfy the greedy requirements of the brand that is going to sell in the USA for profit at the expense of the workers, forests, environment, and your wallet.

This toxic and unsustainable furniture is manufactured abroad in faraway factories, often lacking in quality, controls, and ethical labor practices, and creating a polluting environment. 

Sustainable Furniture

​The best suitable furniture are made in the USA and with local and American materials

They are either made with Heavy-duty 100% recycled steel core or made from solid wood is the safer, healthier option, free from harmful chemicals like formaldehyde, benzene, and toluene, ensuring a healthier indoor environment.

 

🌿 Organic furniture

If you choose wood furniture, choose organic, made with sustainably grown wood from ethically managed US forests, 100% solid wood constructions from solid Red Oak, Brown Maple, Hard Maple, Cherry, and Walnut Woods. Solid wood Bed Foundations sealed with linseed oil: The natural finish that is hand-rubbed onto the wood to protect the wood from moisture. 100% VOC-Free oil finish that is food-safe and chemical-free. The natural color of the wood

 

🌿 Metal Furniture

Here is what to look for: 

  • Heavy-duty 100% recycled steel core (as strong as new steel with a smaller environmental footprint)
  • Non-toxic, fiberglass-infused resin absorbs sound. Advanced polymer resin.
  • Made in the USA with American materials

 

Here you will find:

  • ✅ Organic Bed Foundations made in the USA and with American materials

  • ✅ Heavy-duty 100% recycled steel core

  • ✅ Sustainably grown wood from ethically managed US forests

  • ✅ The finish that is Prop 65 laboratory tested to make sure it’s lead-free, Cadmium-free and Phthalate-free.

  • ✅ Bed Foundations built by hand by American craftsman using time-honored techniques like mortise and tenon joinery. 

Certified Wooden Furniture

✅ FSC® Certified: FSC certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits. FSC Certified means the source comes from certified mills and farms. Purchasing FSC-certified products helps prevent deforestation, including the conversion of natural forests into plantations. It protects the forests of local communities and even helps people rebuild their forest homes. 

Here is how to pick the best sustainable and non-toxic furniture on the market:

They are crafted with FSC® certified wood

FSC Logo

 

The Best Organic Furniture Brands

My number one organic and sustainable furniture brand recommendations are:

 

 

                 Please shop with my links to support my research!

 

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