Consumers’ Take on Office Furniture Sustainability
Consumers’ buying patterns when it comes to office furniture have changed over the years, and now reflect environmental concerns. According to Gary Carr, Bisley’s Marketing Manager, customers seemed to be saying, “Don’t just give us a cabinet, give us corporate responsibility.”
However, this new buying behavior was not backed up by extensive knowledge and understanding regarding environmental issues.
After having collected questionnaires sent in by Bisley’s clients to them, it was found out that clients wanted evidence that the office furniture they buy were certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, to be certain that wood that are from ethical and sustainable sources.
However, the office furniture company does not use wood in its products and therefore decided to take a different approach. Because of this, the company realized that their clients are not equipped with the right information with regards to buying decision. Bisley then saw this as an opportunity to help the consumers gain the proper knowledge in selecting office furniture should they be concerned with environment responsibilities.
Together with the Office Furniture and Filing Manufacturers Association (Offma), Bisley set out to calculate its CO2 emissions on a product-by-product basis with the use of figures and emission standards from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development.
The results on the emissions generated when manufacturing and shipping the office furniture allow buyers to compare the environmental effect of buying a UK-produced cabinet with that of moving via ship a large, heavy filing cabinet bought abroad.
Also, a better environmentally-friendly alternative is using goods from a more sustainable office furniture that are certified by FSC. Products that are approved by the council are cheaper and recycled ones.
The office furniture company hoping that they have wiser consumers now that they have imparted such knowledge to the buyers.
Posted on: Workspace
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