Chinese Furniture Makers Jump onto the Green Bandwagon

In line with global market trends, growing numbers of Chinese manufacturers have jumped on the green office furniture bandwagon to curry the favor of customers who consider "green factors" such as carbon footprint in making their procurement decisions.

Chinese makers are following major international furniture suppliers in tapping the green-furniture market. Haworth, headquartered in the U.S. state of Michigan, for instance, is at the forefront of the green current and has rolled out a series of office furniture, dubbed "Always," that is made using wheat stalk as its raw material. "Always" is the company's second green-furniture series, following the "Zody" chair; and both claim a 10% reduction in carbon footprint. They also meet the sustainability requirement in product-life-cycle analysis, which covers the entire product life from design to production, sale, use, and recycling.

The design of the Zody chair, for instance, incorporates considerations of recycling. Every part of the chair is furnished with a label to facilitate its dismantling, either for reuse or recycling. The chair's cushion can be taken apart easily, since it uses no adhesive.

The Aurora Group, a leading green-furniture maker in China, has been pushing the "Eco Office" concept by organizing forums on that theme in major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, this year.

In line with the Eco-Office concept, Aurora's X-series chairs are made of cloth which is entirely free of heavy metal, thanks to the use of EU-certified environment-friendly dye.

These "X" chairs comply with the 3-R environmental concept of reduce, reuse, and recycle, with 80% of its materials being recyclable. In addition, the cloth cover for the chair back can be easily removed and replaced with a new one using only one tool. The chair is also light in weight, weighing only 9.8 kilograms.