Furniture and waste generation

Furniture can not be regarded as a polluting waste creating highly negative impacts on the environment. Even if waste furniture and its materials account for important volumes of waste (4 to 5% of MSW), it is not due to unsustainable consumption patterns: volume of furniture consumed and thus disposed of has stagnated these recent years.

As an example, wood, which represents almost 60% of materials, has a very limited environmental impact, especially if compared with other materials.

Furniture manufacturers and retailers are facing tough competition from the car sector and sectors supplying free time services and products (books, holidays, electronics, PC's, …).

In addition the durability of furniture items generally exceeds 10-12 years. A lot of old furniture not more used by households are used by other members of family, friends or by charitable institutions increasing lifetime of the products and postponing the disposal of furniture.