I am no expert on the climate crisis. But it doesn’t make sense to cut down a 400 year old tree to make a piece of Ikea furniture. Furniture which will most likely end up in landfill. There are serious environmental impacts of fast furniture. So I think if we make an effort to choose forever pieces instead of fast furniture we can make a difference to the environmental impact of fast furniture.
Forever pieces
I have always believed that you should buy the best value or best quality furniture you can afford. Sometimes what we can afford changes over time. I believe this primarily because I don’t believe in trends. Fast furniture thrives on trends.
But if you know your interior style and carefully choose the pieces for your homes rather than choose pieces quickly, we can reduce the number of trees cut down and the quantity of pieces that end up in landfill.
Knowing your interior style
Most of my clients are confused about what their individual interior style is. This is because it’s natural for everyone to like pieces, patterns, colours and other design elements from a range of styles.
The reason why we like a variety of design features is because our preferences are influenced by our life experiences. Life experiences such as travel, film and so on.
So knowing your style is key to preventing selecting fast furniture and carefully selecting pieces you will own and love for a long time.
Your furniture budget
The work I do with my clients is not limited to high end suppliers. The pieces I select have to be within my client’s allocated budget. Therefore it’s not unusual for me to specify pieces from Kmart or Fantastic Furniture.
Admittedly these are complementary pieces rather than focal pieces such as a sofa. But still these budget pieces form part of a design story of a space. Therefore they are not likely to be disregarded or thrown away.
As I mentioned above it’s important to buy the best possible pieces you can afford. Fundamentally, by knowing your style, avoiding trends and choosing your pieces carefully, you can avoid fast furniture ending up in land fill.
Across every aspect of lives we are making some behavioural changes that reflect the current climate emergency. Behavioural changes such as keep cups, canvas shopping bags, veganism is on the rise, recycling and composting.
So there is no reason we can’t apply this environmental mindset to the furniture we buy for our homes. It’s also important to consider the materials used to manufacture fast furniture. The materials used are not natural. Materials such as polypropylene, plastic, resin, acrylic and so on.
As much as possible buying furniture made from natural materials such as timber, especially FSC furniture is what we should be looking for. Looking for good quality second timber furniture is also desirable. By simply being more consciousness and discerning with our furniture and homewares purchases we can reduce land fill and reduce the environmental impacts of fast furniture.
