Environmentally friendly furniture attaches importance to the furniture industry chain and neglects the choice of furniture coatings

August 07, 2023

Under the concept of low-carbon economy development, “environmental protection” has become a hot keyword, and environmental protection means sustainable development, which means health and safety. Furniture products that are closely related to life are also constantly playing environmental slogans. At present, many people understand the definition of environmentally-friendly furniture as a furniture product whose performance index and safety index of the finished product meet the technical requirements of the national environmental labeling product under the premise of meeting the respective product standards. The author believes that this concept is unscientific. The above understanding only shows the environmental protection of the finished furniture, and the finished furniture is only a part of the furniture industry chain. To ensure the environmental protection of the entire furniture industry chain, it can be called environmentally friendly furniture.

The furniture industry chain can be divided into three stages: the first is the raw material procurement phase; the second is the production phase; and the third is the terminal use phase. To produce environmentally-friendly furniture, all three of these links must be taken seriously. The lack of one can not be called environmentally friendly furniture.

Do not ignore the choice of furniture paint <br> <br> furniture production is actually just a physical process, the furniture is environmentally friendly raw materials, is environmentally friendly furniture products have a decisive role. There are two aspects that are most likely to cause pollution in the raw materials of furniture: 1. The use of adhesives, hardeners, water repellents and other chemical raw materials in the processing of various wood-based panels will release free formaldehyde and other substances harmful to the human body. 2, paint, unqualified furniture coatings contain a large amount of toxic and harmful substances such as formaldehyde and benzene.

In terms of coatings, there are still companies that are producing and using highly toxic furniture coating products containing dichloroethane. The high toxicity of dichloroethane can cause great harm to both the painter and the consumer of the furniture factory. The "Beijing Declaration of Environmental Protection for Furniture Paints" signed in Beijing in June this year is the efforts of the coatings industry to purify the coatings in the furniture industry chain.

Furniture production stage polluting <br> <br> current Chinese furniture paint solvent-based products still in the majority, there would certainly have solvent pollution. According to relevant information, the atmospheric hazard caused by VOC emissions from Chinese furniture painting is second only to automobile exhaust. At present, most of the furniture manufacturing enterprises control VOC processes are mostly "water curtain cabinet", "activated carbon adsorption" or "water spray + activated carbon adsorption" and other treatment methods, these methods have very limited VOC processing capacity. Even some companies' VOC processing equipment is only for checking, most of the time is in standby mode, and even a little bit of effect has not been played.

Zhu Changling, chairman of the China Furniture Association, also pointed out: "If the production process of furniture is not environmentally friendly, even if the product is qualified, it cannot be considered environmentally friendly furniture." Furniture often goes through several months from production to sales. During this period, many harmful substances have been gradually discharged. When it is really in the hands of consumers, all aspects of furniture testing have passed, but this obviously cannot be environmentally friendly furniture. It is conceivable that some of China's so-called environmentally friendly furniture is the product of concentrated pollutant discharge. However, the "Notice on the Remediation of Volatile Organic Compound Pollution in Furniture Manufacturing Enterprises" issued by Shenzhen earlier this year has set a good example for China's furniture coating reform. At present, the popular environmental protection coating is divided into two directions: water-based and UV. Many large-scale furniture enterprises have already taken the lead in the pace of furniture painting reform, laying a good foundation for China's real environmental protection furniture industry.

Throughout the four major furniture fairs in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu in 2011, both the organizers and exhibitors are moving closer to environmentally friendly furniture. All-Friends Furniture claims to build a green industrial chain from the source of furniture materials to the sale of final products.

The one-sided understanding of consumers has caused more furniture companies to distort the true meaning of “environmental protection” for the benefit. What is certain is that the quality of furniture products on the market is basically qualified, but there are very few that can be called environmentally friendly furniture. The word “environmental protection” is more used by the marketing of furniture companies. Few companies interpret the word “environmental protection” from the perspective of responsibility, morality and conscience. Chinese enterprises want to truly make environmentally-friendly furniture, they must look to the future, from the perspective of the industrial chain, to make the source a good job, environmentally friendly furniture is like a boat.