We talk a lot about sustainable living when it comes to the foods we eat and the clothes we wear, but have you ever thought about that it spands so much further than what most of us think and speak about every single day?
Basically, we could apply sustainability to everything in this world and today I want you to take a moment to think about one of the biggest issues we’re facing and that is landfill.
A huge contributor to landfill is furniture – did you ever think about that? Furniture waste is a growing problem and like the rest of the issues we’re facing in this world, it’s here to stay unless we choose to do something proactive about it.
We’ve become a throw-away society with so much cheap furniture available that isn’t built to last, and over 85% of furniture we put on the curb isn’t recycled and is instead simply sent to landfill.
Based on a compositional survey of more than 2,500 households in metropolitan areas, on average each household disposes around 24kg of wooden furniture per year. Approximately a third of this are soft furnishings like sofas and armchairs, and two-thirds other wooden furniture.
“If you think of a population of 2 million households in the Greater Sydney Region, this could add up to 48,000 tonnes of used furniture per year disposed at the kerbside,” Kevin Morgan, Managing Director of EC Sustainable says.
To put that into furniture terms – and figuring in average furniture weights – that’s the equivalent of 800,000 three-seater sofas, 1.65 million dining tables, 3.4 million coffee tables or 6.85 million chairs, thrown away every year.
These numbers are for Sydney only and don’t include other furniture delivered directly to tips by households and businesses or illegal dumping. And the problem is getting worse.
Writing this actually sends chills down my spine. When I started doing research for this article, I got deeper and deeper into this wormhole – a very uncomfortable one, might I add.
Nonetheless, these problems won’t go away simply because we turn a blind eye to what is happening, not only in Australia, but all over the world and no one can fix the problem unless we all collectively add to the solution that is, thinking twice about purchasing new furniture, the lifespan we can utilise it for and, if we need to get rid of it, can we upcycle it in the sense of handing it down to someone who’s in need of furniture and can’t afford to buy new ones themselves?
I want to introduce you to a man whom I met a few months ago. A man who’s very different from anyone else in the furniture business I’ve ever come across. Very down to earth and very passionate about building a lifestyle and home that’ll last you for tens of years to come.
Justin – owner of Crafted Furniture in Rushcutters Bay (Sydney) – can be a key-player en helping solve the issues of fast furniture as he is replacing the term with SLOW FURNITURE.
What is Crafted Furniture’s philosophy behind Slow Furniture? Well, there’s a lot of sides to this, but below I’ll name a few:
- Handmade in Sydney: which helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and oil pollution drastically and turn-over time is much quicker
- Sustainable Wood Source: all wood is ethically sourced from environmentally sustainable forests.
- Local Made Foams: foams made here in Sydney by Dunlop foams
- Sustainable & Natural Fabrics: Crafted Furniture lean towards fabric of natural fibre content and suggest these where possible – Crafted fully understand where the fabrics come from and their sustainability.
- Recyclable Schemes: Crafted Furniture takes pride in recycling your old sofa or furniture to people in need. They will gladly take your sofa and get it re-upholstered and cleaned to be passed onto a new home where it’s highly needed.
- Creating local jobs: by doing all of the above, Crafted Furniture also helps to create jobs for more people onshore and keeps the economy in Australia for Australians.
The heart of Crafted Furniture’s ambition is to curate unrivalled experiences and quality that places accessible lifestyle design in reach for everyday enthusiasts and designers alike. Every piece is created with human touch and celebrates the essence of craftsmanship & sustainability.
Crafted Furniture has a story that has evolved over 15 years of passionate experience in the design industry, working alongside a number of Australia’s leading designers. Justin and the team continues to be fuelled by their inspired purpose to craft lifestyles, serving clients and the community through impeccable design that is personal to them.
Working with customers on a one-to-one basis allows Crafted Furniture to deliver a product that’s exactly what the customer is looking for. And backing this up with a service-led experience means that customers get access to a huge depth of product knowledge.
As Justin says: “We’re not trying to sell the same sofa to thousands of different customers – our retail experience means that you
get personalised service and a piece of furniture that’s exactly right for you”.
See more about the Furniture at Crafted Furniture here.
