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Last 16/01/12
Public procurement of furniture is very significant as offices, conference rooms, schools and spaces other than workstations must be furnished. Furniture serves to support objects and other purposes and must therefore be built so as to simplify or improve office and administrative work. Its dimensions and adjustment settings must ensure ergonomic workplace design. Design features such as colour and surface are part of the uniform appearance of a public office or institution.
In the following section three groups of furniture of relevance to the public sector are introduced. It is furniture made of wood and wood-based materials, upholstered furniture, and office chairs.
Wood and wood-based materials are used to make tables, drawer cabinets, cabinets and shelves as well as modular units that can be added on to these units.
Solid wood furniture consists mostly of single or multiple-layer panel whose surface may-- like real wood veneers- be glazed, varnished, waxed or oiled.
Wood-based materials often replace solid wood for reasons relating to structure and price. Wood-based materials include particle board, medium density fibreboard (MDF), plywood, and lumber-core plywood. The particle board and fibreboard originate mainly from the woodworking industry and are produced with the use of binders.
The furniture material surfaces are usually coated. For coating that serves decorative purposes as well as to protect the surface, real wood veneers, foils and edge banding is used. Liquid materials such as varnishes or stains are also used. It is common to combine a number of coating processes.
The binders or adhesives used to glue surface to veneer or other decorative layer material are based on synthetic resins, with melamine resin being most typical.
Upholstered furniture is most often procured to furnish meeting and conference rooms. This furniture is composed of frame, which may be made of solid wood or metal, and the upholstery on the seat, back, and armrests. Upholstery is made up of spring support, padding, a polyester nonwoven cover or a mat, and a final covering material, either textile or leather (Haselmann and Bruns 2001). Padding is most often made of polyurethane flexible foam, which has in the meantime become as sturdy and comfortable as coil springs.
Textiles supply in the industry is vast, including textiles made of synthetic and natural fibres (see soft furnishings), which may be treated with a flame retardant and/or moth protection, as well as various suede and smooth leathers. Additional finishing agents improve light and stain resistance, abrasion resistance, and moisture transfer.
Office chairs and swivel chairs are key to ergonomic office design as they must support the back during work. These chairs are made up of various parts and materials. In general, this consists of a frame, seat deck, back, and sometimes armrests, for which wood, metal or plastic are used, as well as padding and covering. In office swivel chairs the lower frame rotates and is set on wheels or gliders. The seat and back can usually be adjusted in height and inclination to suit the individual user. A gas spring, often filled with nitrogen, allows height and counterbalance adjustment.
A number of different industries are involved in the manufacture of furniture, ranging from forest management and the chemical industry to the furniture factory, the joiner’s shop or upholsterer. Their production requires wood, textiles, leather, metals and plastics as well as a variety of chemicals, of which some are harmful to the environment and health whilst the impact of others is often unknown. In the meantime, however, the production, use, and disposal of office furniture, upholstered furniture and office (swivel) chairs is environmentally friendly, and it can be recycled.
Due to its large surface area and long service life furniture can be a significant source of emissions in indoor space. To varying degrees new furniture emits volatile organic compounds (VOC). Even when the smell of new furniture has long worn off, odourless VOC can continue to outgas. In the latter case, these are various substances mixtures which have been identified and reaffirmed in a scientific study commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency (Horn et al. 2006) to test solid woods and wood-based materials.
Some of these compounds can lead to irritations of conjunctiva and respiratory tract mucous membranes. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, or fatigue. Some compounds have allergising or even carcinogenic potential. Skin contact with upholstered surfaces where the textile of leather has been treated with finishing agents can have an adverse impact on health and promote contact allergies. As a result, several such chemicals have been banned in Germany, including pentachlorophenol (PCP), now classified as carcinogenic Category 2 (see also Senatskommission zur Prüfung gesundheitsschädlicher Arbeitsstoffe 2007), the fungicide used on cotton crops and to preserve leather, certain polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) used as flame retardants, azo dyes which have been proven to release carcinogenic amines, as well as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), which deplete the ozone layer and have been used in the past as a propellant to make foam materials. Unchecked import from countries that have not banned these chemicals might contain them in products sold on the German market.
Even untreated natural wood is not emissions-free. It is what gives wood its typical smell. Pine wood in particular is rich in terpenes, which have allergising potential. Residual, varying amounts of solvents and other VOC escape from wood-based materials, for example from the gluing of wood particles in the chipboard or fibreboard, and from the surface varnish (see varnishes and glazes).
In the past formaldehyde, which was used as a binder to glue wood particles, gained a great deal of attention. Formaldehyde irritates the mucous membranes, is allergising and carcinogenic. Precautionary health measures prescribe that wood-based furniture in which specific tests reveal the presence of formaldehyde in concentrations of more than 0.1 ppm.
Nowadays the binders used to make furniture panels include various combinations of urea, melamine, polymer, or polymer isocyanate resins as well as phenol-formaldehyde adhesives. The emissions have little to no formaldehyde, but may instead contain residual monomers of isocyanate resins such as methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), which have sensitizing effect.
Elastic padding is usually made of polyurethane foams which are produced with the use of the propellants pentane, methylene chloride or carbon dioxide. The materials used in textile furniture coverings include a number of different synthetic fibres such as polyester and polyamide, and natural fibres such as cotton and wool. The fibres are treated with various finishing agents to make the textiles durable, hard-wearing and sightly. Natural fibres may also be treated with a mothproofing agent. As the foams and textiles used in upholstery are easily inflammable the manufacturer often treats them with a flame retardant.
An additional covering material is leather, distinguishing between full-grain leather and nappa leather. Leather is generally tanned with chromium salts or plant extracts in a number of different processes. It is then oiled (e.g. with linseed oil) and dyed (typically with synthetic dyes). Problematic substances such as aniline (a tar-based product) is no longer used, at least not in Germany. Surface treatment (finishing) gives the leather its final appearance and makes it dirt- and water-resistant. Various finishing substances are used that may damage the environment and health. Depending on tanning method, dyeing, and surface treatment, leather emits VOC, some of which have a strong smell that may originate from a solvent used in surface refinement.
Frames in upholstered furniture, office chairs and office swivel chairs are made of wood, metal or plastics. Among metals the use of aluminium has the advantage of being light (transport) and requires no additional corrosion protection. Recycling with no deterioration of quality is possible and requires considerably less energy than the production of primary aluminium. The aluminium used should therefore also contain secondary aluminium. The use of iron on the other hand requires surface treatment with either varnish or a synthetic as well as chromium or zinc plating, or addition of alloying metals like chromium or nickel. Some of the alloying metals end up in the steel bath upon scrap recycling, while others go to slag and cannot be re-used (see also Grauer et al. 1997).
The plastics of choice are polyethylene or polypropylene as they can be recycled after used if collected separately.
The high demand for tropical precious woods such as mahogany or teak has led to uncontrolled felling or slash-and-burn land clearance, causing suffering and damage not only to the tropical rainforest, but to local populations as well. The demand for wood has not left domestic forests unscathed either. In the 1990s the international organisations FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) spoke out for the use of wood from sustainably managed forests. It is a matter not of social sustainability but of reducing the adverse impact on climate and biological diversity. It is becoming ever more common that wood bearing the FSC or PEFC certificate (see Ecolabels) is used. However, this also poses a new challenge facing environmental protection efforts to prevent tropical rain forests from being displaced by new plantations.
The matter of whether procurement of wood-based or solid wood furniture is better has been and continues to be controversial. The use of chipboard promotes the use of smallwood and off-cuts and is positive in terms of waste management. Solid wood produced sustainably and wood-based materials with low-emissions from wood-particle gluing can be combined and used ecologically. Ultimately, the decisive factors are durability, stability, long years of service, which are also critical ecological considerations.
Long-term serviceability of furniture must be guaranteed. In order to make repairs possible, manufacturers/suppliers must make spare and wearing parts available after purchase, for a period of at least five years.
Office furniture should be modular in construction, making it possible to add on and if increased need arises, does not require procurement of an entirely new collection. Faulty or worn furniture must be easy to remove and enable repair.
Moreover, the composition of the piece of furniture must allow for sorting and separate collection of the used materials after their service life. Appropriate labelling should identify recycling potential. Materials in very small product parts should be identified on a consignment note. Bonded joints should be present between similar or like materials.
Packaging materials should be recyclable. Manufacturer/supplier are to be obligated to take-back of used furniture with a view to extensive recovery of product parts. Should this be impossible, they should be collected according to category and recycled.
Discarded furniture must be tested for viability of materials or thermal energy re-use if it cannot be donated to needy institutions or individuals.
Blue Angel RAL-UZ 38 / RAL-UZ 117The Blue Angel is the oldest official ecolabel in use in Germany. The label proprietor is the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The ecolabel provides an incentive to develop products that are more ecological and health-compatible.
Wood and wood-based furniture that has the Blue Angel RAL-UZ 38 as well as upholstered furniture with the RAL-UZ 117 ecolabel meet the criteria and standards of the label as concerns emission limits and hazardous materials, serviceability, and product packaging.
Award criteria are developed by the Federal Environment Agency in concert with manufacturers, testing institutions, and other experts and members of consumer associations. The independent Environmental Label Jury reviews and determines award criteria. The award itself is granted by the RAL gGmbH on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-governmental, non-profit organisation that promotes shall promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. Its support comes from environmental organizations around the world, trade unions, stakeholder groups of indigenous peoples, and a large number of forest management and timber companies. FSC certification of the wood or wood-based materials used is a required criteria for award of the Blue Angel. Other equivalent certification systems (e.g. PEFC) are recognised.
FSC has established ten principles and criteria as well as 56 policies of sustainable forest management which can into account social, ecological and economic factors. National working groups adapt these principles and requirements to regional circumstances in the form of a national FSC standard. The FSC Label certifies the production of the wood used to make a certain product and vouches for its chain of custody.
FSC commissions certification bodies who must comply with the same set of rules worldwide to carry out the certification process. Certification is valid worldwide.
http://www.fsc-deutschland.de/
Golden MThe ’Golden M’ is the quality seal of the Deutsche Gütegemeinschaft Möbel e.V. (DGM e.V.). Its membership comprises more than 100 domestic and foreign furniture manufacturers and suppliers who commit to compliance with the quality standard.
DGM e.V. develops quality and testing parameters (RAL-GZ 430) which take into consideration the durability and the proper function of the furniture as well as consumer safety and health, and the environmental compatibility of the production process. Packaging, transport, disposal and recycling are also regulated. An independent institute carries out product testing.
The award is issued by RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V. The range of labelled furniture is mainly in the private domain. The Golden M has also been granted to upholstered furniture and a few office chairs and school furniture.
PEFCThe Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) is an international forest certification system whose membership now represents 24 European countries as well as Australia, Brazil, Gabon, Chile, Canada, Malaysia, and the USA.
The PEFC‘s technical documentation and charter define the minimum requirements with regard to economic, ecological and social sandards that must be met on national and regional levels.
Independent certification bodies issue the PEFC certificate that entitles forest managers to use the PEFC logo. Wood and wood-based products that meet PEFC standards may also gain certification if a plausible product chain of custody is proven.
The tender recommendations presented in tabular form below are oriented towards the Blue Angel award criteria for low-emissions wood and wood-based products in the case of furniture (RAL-UZ 38), and towards the requirements for the Blue Angel for low-emissions upholstered furniture (RAL-UZ 117) as concerns upholstered furniture and chairs. The bidder declares compliance with these requirements and must submit relevant testing documentation and certificates. See details of award criteria for more information on testing methods. If the bidder has a contract for the use of the Blue Angel label, then it is assumed that compliance has been verified (with the exception of proof of origin of wood as sustainably managed). Appropriate certification or equivalent proof must therefore be submitted, despite existing contract for label use if applicable. The award criteria for RAL-UZ 38 apply to furniture made of than 50 volume percent wood, wood flour and/or wood-based materials (e.g. particle board, coreboard, fibreboard, veneer board (coated or uncoated). For furniture with a wood content of less than 50 volume percent, the Blue Angel cannot be acknowledged as proof of origin.
Interior decoration at the new headquarters building of the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau was done with ecological and healthy materials (green building). Comprehensive supervision of these standards was carried out by the GFÖB – Corporation for Sustainable Building Technology, Berlin. The tendering process for the procurement of tables, cupboards, shelving and cabinets was oriented towards the Blue Angel award criteria for low-emissions wood and wood-based products (RAL-UZ 38). In addition, the furniture had to have other properties that were environmentally sound and harmless to health. These properties include being formaldehyde-free and-- for the sake of energy saving- have a light-coloured surface to ensure optimal reflection of light.
The calls for tender of upholstered visitor and conference room chairs stipulated that they must bear the CE or GS mark or similar seal acknowledged in the EU. Products had to meet valid German and European standards and comply with regulations and directive as well as current state of the art. These regulations also govern ergonomic requirements.
The invitation to tender also addresses environmental and health aspects. Some of the applicable criteria are based on RAL-UZ 38 (mentioned above) as well as RAL-UZ 117, the Blue Angel for low-emissions upholstered furniture.
Covering fabrics should bear the Öko-Tex 100 label or the European ecolabel for textiles. They must also be breathable and abrasion resistant. Padding should not be glued to the seat shell so as to allow separation of materials and easier recycling at the end of service life. For practical reasons there is a requirement that chairs can be stacked and allow for flexible use at different events.
Contact person: Peter Hoffmann, Federal Environment Agency, Unit Z5,
Email: peter.hoffmann@uba.de, Tel.: 0340/2103-2062
Quelle: Dr. Jutta Dürkop