Is the Furniture Industry Failing to Connect the Dots?

1. Significant Information Gaps

Many of the gaps in our knowledge stem from outdated, incomplete, unverified, or non-existent data.

One figure cited repeatedly, for example, is a statistic from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which indicates that the United States generated 12.1 million tons of furniture and furnishings waste in 2018; that 80.1 percent of that waste was landfilled; 19.5 percent was combusted for energy recovery; and a paltry 0.4 percent was recycled.

Another oft-cited statistic indicates that the average piece of furniture, including all constituent parts and chemicals, has a global warming potential (GWP) of 90kg CO2e, or the equivalent of burning 100 pounds of coal.

These statistics are stark. But they are also examples of unreliable or incomplete data. The 90kg figure, for instance, was calculated using a small sampling of items and lacked context. Meanwhile, the ever-popular 12.1 million tons of waste figure is a relic of the pre-COVID-19 era, after which global economies changed forever.

Accounting for the reduction and removal of carbon emissions is another challenge today. The complexities of data collection, inaccuracies in estimations, varying timeframes of carbon storage, and lack of standard practices are among the significant information gaps to fill.

As environmental concerns and science appear to be deprioritized in our current political climate, we will need to rely on our industry’s leaders and advocates to align around generating and tracking reliable data.

2. Opaque Supply Chains

Global furniture supply chains are complex mechanisms that rely on countless components.

If we think of a supply chain as a straight line, most companies trace the chain back to its midpoint and then look forward. From that vantage, the industry usually accounts for a piece of furniture’s individual parts, point of origin, assembly, labor, shipping, storage, and sale.

But looking backward from that midpoint, we see a highly incomplete picture. For starters, the parts themselves—including wood, metals, plastics, fabrics and more—typically have multiple points of origin. And the circumstances under which the raw materials for many of those parts are sourced, extracted, and manufactured can be less than ideal, often including exploited labor, unsafe working conditions, systemic corruption, and other socio-economic factors.

With so many hidden and opaque elements embedded in vast supply chains, it’s no wonder most companies’ visibility is limited. Greater transparency and traceability are needed throughout the entire chain of custody.

3. Beyond the Supply Chain

Furniture’s lifecycle—and its effects in the world—goes well beyond supply chains. The furniture industry still largely operates on a linear or so-called “take-make-waste” model, in which raw materials are frequently sourced with little regard for their environmental impact. And then, a few years later, many furniture pieces are tossed to the curb. 

Focusing on a linear picture means we miss a lot of crucial data.  These include environmental and climate impacts, such as deforestation and biodiversity loss, microplastic and chemical pollution, disposal and landfill waste, and the carbon footprint of furniture’s usage phase.

And then there is the chemistry of it all. Toxic adhesives and various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are still used in the production and finishing of many furniture items, all of which present an ongoing public health risk to their makers, consumers, and the natural environment left to absorb them once discarded.

A circular design lens fills in critical data gaps, going beyond the supply chain to form a full picture.

For more information, read METROPOLIS’s 7 Proposals for a Circular Built Environment here.

4. Understanding Carbon

The furniture industry contributes to the annual accumulation of about 40 percent of carbon dioxide emitted into the built environment. That’s why categorizing and accounting for the carbon in our industry’s materials and manufacturing processes is essential to building a common baseline.

Calculating carbon footprints and tracking them through a supply chain is complex, and the data are not always available or traceable across the global furniture industry. The results often lack transparency, enabling greenwashing or greenhushing, and fueling distrust.

Today, countless companies and countries have publicly pledged to achieve Net Zero by 2050 or sooner. But to fulfill these pledges, we must understand how to account for carbon. Not only do we need to reduce but also remove excess carbon emissions that are warming our planet. It is why aligning on standard methods for measuring, reporting, and verifying carbon footprints, emissions reductions, and carbon removals are necessary steps for all companies and countries to claim in earnest they have achieved the Net Zero milestone.

Read more in METROPOLIS’s Climate Toolkit for Interior Design: Creative Strategies for Low-Carbon Spaces here.

5. Connecting the Dots   

To the extent we have emissions data, industry case studies, and investigative reports to inform us on the environmental, health, and socio-economic impacts of the furniture trade, we often reconcile all of it in silos. We compartmentalize each impact, whether it’s measured in embodied carbon emissions, hectares of deforested land, or the health effects on people exposed to furniture made with toxic chemicals.

We are failing to connect the dots.

Extracting raw materials without paying attention to regenerating resources, for example, contributes to climate-related damage and loss and impacts local economies. Using cheap materials and synthetics treated with VOCs in our furniture, in another example, can generate toxic waste and harm the health of workers and consumers.

The industry’s modus operandi is often to consider impacts piece by piece, isolated from one another; we see the trees but not the forest. As we begin to comprehensively generate and track data, we need to look at how the industry’s socio-economic impacts are connected to its environmental impacts, how environmental impacts are connected to human health impacts, and so on.

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Michael J. Hirschhorn is the founder / CEO of mebl| Transforming Furniture, which supports changemakers across the furniture industry in accelerating its transition to a circular, climate-positive future. mebl originated in 2015 as a retailer of heirloom-quality furniture built of reclaimed materials. Previously, Michael directed other industry-specific professional development hubs, including the Human Rights Funders Network and the Coro NY Leadership Center. He serves on the advisory board of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, and on the board of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.

Lew Epstein is the founder / CEO of Lot₂₁, a content platform and resource helping the design community decarbonize the world –– by advancing climate action across the built environment with the design disciplines that shape it. Previously, Lew led various Steelcase global brands and forward-looking initiatives for over 25 years. Lew is an active IDSA member, selected to serve on the IDSA jury for the International Design Excellence Awards from 2023 to 2024, and an advisory member of IDSA’s newly formed Circular Design Council.  

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• Embodied Carbon
• Michael J. Hirschhorn
• Michael J. Hirschhorn and Lew Epstein
• Supply Chain