Eco Considerations

Our Eco Considerations

Eco is one of our three core values and we strive to minimize our impact on the environment. In everything we do, from initial design through to end of use, we do our best to consider how decisions today affect our environment tomorrow. At this time it’s as simple as that.

As we grow we’ll seek to formalize our environmental approach, policies and practices but for now we’re in midst of figuring out the environmental landscape and best practices and authorities by which to subscribe.  If you have advice for us in this respect, we’d love to here from you - email us at eco@iLikeOi.com and share what we should be doing to be friendlier to our ecosystem.

As a starting point, we believe all of our furniture parts are manufactured using the most eco-friendly practices and technology available on the market today.  Approximately 50% of our parts are made from recycled materials (when available) and the remaining 50% of our parts are made from virgin yet recyclable/reusable/upcyclable material. Outlined below is more details that surround our sustainable decisions and environment features of ‘cellular’ and it’s component parts:

• Our base and cushion core parts are made entirely from recycled and reground plastic resin. Essentially, the off cuts from other parts are thrown into a bin, pulverized, and the resulting powder resin is used in our parts. This is why our cushion core parts come in a rainbow of colours.
• The resin used in our Cores is High Linear High Density Polyethylene (HLDPE).
• The Cores are designed in such a manner that there is no trim out of material so essentially all the HLDPE that goes into our Cores, is part of the finished product (no waste).
• The only waste or scrap occurs when parts are molded and do not meet acceptable quality criteria. This waste material is sent back for recycling and used as a reprocessed resin in other parts.
• Hydro-electric energy is used in the manufacture of our base and cores.

• We pour all of our foam at our plant which reduces the energy used to ship and cut large blocks of foam.
• Our foam is a foam system from BASF called Elastoflex. We are working with BASF and our manufacturing team to move to a more eco-friendly foam at this time.
• Our foam is fully recyclable and is PBDE free and made without the use of CFC’s.
• We donate all unusable excess foam to local arts groups.
• Hydro-electric energy is used in the manufacture of our foam.

• The covers we specify are not the most eco-friendly upholsteries available on the market because we have attempted to strike a balance between look, feel, and durability at a reasonable price. With these considerations in mind we chose to specify our:
• Fun Cover: Boxter from Master Fabrics (100% Polyester)
• Living Cover: Aspirations from Enduratex (PVC) because it is lead-free and phthalate-free.

• When possible we reuse all excess from cushion covers to create our swatch books.
• We donate all unusable excess to local arts groups.
• If you have cover suggestion or manufacturers, we’d love to hear from you. email us at eco@ilikeoi.com.
• The great thing about our covers is that they can easily be replaced.  If one area becomes damaged you don’t need to throw out your entire couch. Instead, simply replace the damaged cover.

• We use 100% recyclable corrugated cardboard for all of our packaging.
• We use a biodegradable bag to protect our furniture from moisture during shipping.
• Hydro-electric energy is used in the manufacture of our boxes.

• We ship all furniture with common small package carriers (Purolator in Canada, and UPS in the USA). In other words, we try not to add new vehicles to the road or air.
• We sell online and in pre-existing boutique retailers. In other words, we don't add new buildings to the world.

• Headquartered and with many of our supplier in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada all of energy is hydro-electric and is one the cleanest ways to produce electricity.

• We donate a portion of every sale to the 'Carbonfund' (www.carbonfund.org).

• We are currently exploring and evaluating the various environmental certification programs and hope to have a decision in this regard in the summer of 2014.

• Every piece of furniture has a useful life and the end is just a matter of time. With that said we’ve designed and built cellular to last many lifetimes. The base and cushion cores are virtually indestructible.  The foam will retain it’s form and firmness in relation to the amount and degree of use. Covers can be replaced as needed.

As you can see, we’re still in the infancy stages of eco policies and procedures but we’re trying to do our best. If you have ideas that can help be more friendly to our environment, we’d love to hear from you.

Jason Abbott
Founder & CEO
Oi Furniture