Smart online tool: How sustainable is your new office furniture

Sustainability, environmental and climate impact on products have evolved to be the most important overall mantras for the design business world as well.

Still, more companies, state institutions, municipalities impose strict sustainability requirements for their office and school furniture - such as sustainable materials, non-hazardous chemicals, good ergonomics, etc.

This autumn, a large Swedish manufacturer of office furnishings Kinnarps has launched a smart, user-friendly web tool - The Better Effect Index, which rates Kinnarps products on six key sustainability parameters.

The index is planned to include and assess all Kinnarps' trademarks, and will provide customers with sustainability info on raw materials and resources, climate, pure materials, social responsibility, recycling and ergonomics.

Overall rating

"Future customers in general, and decision makers in particular, will demand documented evidence on what difference they actually make when prioritizing and buying new sustainable products," Marketing Manager Rose-Maria Poll, Kinnarps, states.

"With The Better Effect Index, we aim to clarify to what extent every single piece of Kinnarps office furniture is able to match sustainability, eco-materials, social responsibility, etc. We account not only for the advantages but also for potential shortcomings of our trademarks."

All Kinnarps products are to be rated on six values with three as highest rating - the average of the six areas makes the overall rating.                                Photos: Kinnarps

The new market tool of Kinnarps delivers a credible overall rating of all factors that affect and define the product's sustainability and fineness.

The assessment is based on the UN's sustainability goals and on a wide range of architects', interior specialists', purchasers' and users' views and requirements for what is important to make sustainable choices of office furniture.

Full transparency

"Since the start of Kinnarps back in 1942, sustainability has always been a key word for our company. In this context, our new index is just a natural follow-up to the family business' long-term sustainability concept  - The Better Effect.

We found that our interior design industry was in need of a useful tool to provide an honest overall picture and increase the transparency of our office furniture. We regard it as a true strategy for the future to be transparent and focused on the exact lifecycles of our products," Rose-Maria Poll adds.

"Future customers and decision makers will require comprehensive documentation for what difference they actually make when they buy new sustainable products," Kinnarps Marketing Manager Rose-Maria Poll states.

Specifically, Kinnarps will base their office furniture ratings on 17 indicators within the six index main areas. These ratings will generate a total sustainability rating for the product.

In the long term, all the company's office furniture and products must be assessed and have their own comparable sheet of ratings. Kinnarps will still maintain the external quality and eco-labeling  already achieved.

Common standards

"We present our ratings openly so Kinnarps' competitors will be able to see how we prioritize our ratings, and how we constantly work to optimize our products.

We do hope that other industries will discover and begin using our new algorithms. Perhaps one day in the near future, we can create a series of reliable common sustainability standards for our different kinds of design products," Marketing Manager Rose Maria Poll says. ●

Read more:
The Better Effect Index of Kinnarps
Wow-webmagazine.com: Make sustainability simple
Curbed.com: World’s most sustainable office space opens in London
Sustainable design and product lifecycle management: Setting new standards