This is the story of my search for a couch. The 'perfect' couch. The couch that fit just right into our front bay window, that worked with the style of our 100+ year old house, was undeniably gorgeous and could stand up to the antics of our two rough-and-tumble boys. Oh, and like most things I purchase these days, I preferred my new couch to be produced in a sustainable manner using environmentally friendly materials.
What surprised me about my furniture shopping experience was that many furniture stores aren't really talking eco yet. That’s probably because a couch is just a tad bit more complicated than buying say, an apple or a lunch bag. There are many different components to a piece of upholstery - wood, metal, foam, fabric, stains, finishes - as well as laws governing the use of flame retardant chemicals. If I had $5000+ to spend on a couch, then I would have gone for one made with FSC-certified wood finished with no-VOC stain, stuffed with natural latex and naturally fire-retardant wool and covered in high-quality hemp or organic linen upholstery fabric. But my budget was just a tad bit smaller than that and unfortunately my visions of the ultimate in eco had to take a back burner as size, style and price trumped the environment.
We finally decided on a loveseat from the Loring collection at Room & Board (and I was lucky enough to score one at a substantial discount at the outlet store!) I love buying from Room & Board for many reasons, one of them being the fact that they partner with small, family-owned business and sell furniture that is primarily American-made. That means high quality construction and materials, responsibly forested woods and less energy devoted to transportation. But it's funny that it wasn't until a couple weeks AFTER I bought the couch that I learned it was constructed using foam that is made partially with soybeans.
Soy foam, it turns out, is showing up in a lot of products these days including upholstery, mattresses and even car seats. The foam is produced using soy-based BiOH polyols from Cargill, which replace a portion (up to 20%), but not all of the petroleum-based polyol used in foam manufacturing. Life cycle assessments have shown that compared to traditional polyurethane foam, soy-based foam has a lower environmental footprint since BiOH polyols require less energy to manufacture and use less petroleum, a non-renewable resource. Over time, foam manufacturers expect to increase the percentage of soy-based polyols, as the technology improves and performance tests prove positive. Soy-based foam is certainly not the perfect green solution, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.
I have to say that learning about the soy-based cushions made me feel even better about my purchase. Most people I know can't afford a $5000 couch so we need to look for the little things that make a product sustainable. In the end I found a couch with a lot of style, a little eco, fabulous quality and at a very reasonable price. I also learned that while the furniture industry may be slower to ‘go green’ than some industries, they are making good strides. And as eco-consumers we should continue to “ask for it in green” when we shop. No doubt we’ll be seeing more eco-options in mainstream furniture stores before too long.
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