apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Slate just came out with an excellent article addressing the lower end furniture market, and pieces constructed of particleboard, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), plywood, and other composite wood products. While it is better that particleboard and MDF are made primarily from leftover sawdust and lumber scraps rather than virgin wood, it takes much more energy to produce them than it does to process lumber boards, since "the wood scraps must be broken down, dried, mixed with adhesives, and then heated and pressed into panels," not to mention the potential air quality issues. (The adhesives used in particleboard, MDF, and plywood manufacturing all have the potential to emit formaldehyde as off-gas.)

It's better to look for pieces made out of wood alternatives, like straw or sugarcane residue. Even IKEA (the #1 retailer that comes to mind when we think of "cheap" furniture and all its implications) is trying to green its furniture, "experimenting with lightweight panels made of a honeycomblike paper core sandwiched between two thin sheets of particleboard or MDF. These panels use less material than traditional composite panels, not to mention less energy in their manufacture and transport."

Ultimately, though, Slate says (and we agree) that the best option for the planet and for your budget is to buy secondhand. You're much more likely to get a high-quality piece of furniture — an antique even — that you'll love and keep for years.

Read the whole article here.

Image via Futurity