Sustainability & Design
Environmental Stewards
At 1922 Commercial, we recognize and embrace our responsibility to safeguard human health, preserve natural resources, and protect the environment through our sustainable hospitality and commercial furniture design. Sustainability is a strong part of who are are, and it impacts everything that we do.
Responsible Product Design
An important part of responsible product design lies in material selection. Choosing the right raw materials - rapidly renewable materials, that is - positively impacts the environment.
Sustainability Practices & Design Processes
We continually discover new ways to make our facility more environmentally friendly. As a manufacturer, we have a responsibility to ensure that we are conscious of the resources that we use. Our sustainability practices are part of our ongoing mission to conserve energy and water, reduce waste, and increase use of recycled content, improve indoor air quality, and more while continuing to produce quality hospitality furniture that our customers love.
Responsible Product Design
Responsible Design Starts Here
It's important to us that we are the manufacturer of environmentally friendly furniture. Therefore, we design each product with longevity, durability, and recyclability in mind. We share with our customers a commitment in renewable resources and responsible environmental stewardship.
We use wood as our primary raw material, which is inherently a Green choice. As part of our Sustainability Purchasing Guidelines, we work with only those vendors who ascribe to one or more of the following systems: Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), American Tree Farm, Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
Through our custom commercial furniture design process, we take extra care to provide each of our customers with a product that meets their usability and aesthetic needs while finding ways to incorporate recyclable components wherever possible. When a product's lifecycle does end, we make it easy for the product to be disassembled and recycled rather than dumped in a landfill. Because our furniture is built with such high quality standards, we also make it easy for our customers to donate the used pieces, further reducing waste and encouraging reuse.
Specification Info
Whenever possible, we manufacture our products using rapidly renewable materials, recyclable materials and materials with a high percentage of pre- and post-consumer recycled content.
Sustainable Manufacturing
Air Emissions
Regulatory Compliance
Air Emissions
Improving air quality is very important to 1922 Commercial. Our products are designed to reduce off-gassing, protecting the users of our product. From an internal standpoint, we've made considerable progress in reducing the amount and toxicity of air emissions in each of our manufacturing facilities. The positive results include the following:
- Improved work environments
- Improved regional air quality where furniture is manufactured
- Reduced potential for off-gassing and indoor air quality issues associated with the use of the final product
- Reduced hazardous and toxic wastes generated at the manufacturing facilities, since solvent-based (i.e. volatile) materials commonly produce hazardous waste
- Reduced manpower required to track air emissions permitting, record keeping and monitoring facility
Packaging
Regulatory Compliance
Air Emissions
Our goal is to achieve 100% recycled packaging (recyclable at the job or installation site) to eliminate tons of unnecessary materials making way to our landfills.
We're committed to reducing the use of packaging materials by finding alternative methods to safely ship and receive products to and from suppliers, end-users, and other manufacturing locations. To reduce landfill waste, we're reusing materials such as wood pallets wherever possible. We've also incorporated the use of plastic totes, shrink-wrapping, and racking of products to alleviate the amount of 'box' materials used in the shipping process.
In essence, 1922 Commercial's sustainable approach towards packaging as a manufacturer is summarized by the following initiatives:
- Reduce packaging materials for all hospitality furniture that we produce
- Increase recycled content in packaging materials and reduce the use of virgin materials
- Ensure that all materials can be easily recycled post shipment
Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory Compliance
Part of being a good environmental steward is complying with environmental guidelines, ordinances, and laws.
- ISO 9001 - 1922 Commercial follows the ISO 9001:2015 Guidelines for quality. From an environmental standpoint, this:
- Ensures 1922 Commercial manufactures its products with environmental considerations
- Involves all team members in continuous improvement processes, which leads to resource conservation, waste reduction, and efficiency
- Encourages continuous environmental improvement
- Supports relationships with suppliers who are also environmental stewards
Sustainable Practices
Sustainable Practices
Regulatory Compliance
We've made a comprehensive effort to incorporate sustainable practices and policies into our hospitality furniture manufacturing responsibilities.
We practice the following goals:
- Incorporate the largest percentage of recycled content into our products so that they can easily be recycled, disassembled, and reused through donated means.
- Reduce the use of packaging material and find alternative methods to safely ship and receive products to and from suppliers and end users. Using reusable plastic totes, shrink-wrapping, and racking products has helped alleviate the amount of 'box' materials used in the shipping process.
- Conserve fuel and energy. We select new processes and equipment based on a detailed analysis of environmental considerations, capital, and operating costs. Energy and fuel conservation is an integral part of this process.
Transportation
Sustainable Practices
Social Responsibility
We have long-established relationships with a variety of trucking companies, consisting of fuel-efficient vehicles and the smallest diesel engines available. Other transportation-related initiatives include the following:
- Scheduling: By consolidating destinations for the fleet, 1922 Commercial is able to use the maximum amount of truck space available, reducing the number of trucks on the road. This saves on fuel usage as well as equipment wear and tear.
- Packaging: Various methods are used to increase space capacity, including palletizing, shrink wrapping products, and stacking when safely able to do so to eliminate space-consuming packaging and to maximize the amount of usable truck space.
- Ship Direct: Because our main method of shipping is direct to the customer, we eliminate multiple stops and go directly to the final destination, reducing the number of trucks on the road, fuel usage, CO2 emissions, and equipment wear and tear.
Social Responsibility
Sustainable Practices
Social Responsibility
Sustainability is more than our environmental footprint; it's also about our social responsibility towards our people. We ensure that we demonstrate our understanding of this responsibility, we have implemented the following:
- Implementation of a company policy on health and safety, which includes routine workforce safety training for use of machinery and forklifts according to their Risk Assessment Competency
- Introduce a Train the Trainer safety program
- Established a safety committee with one person from each department to identify and provide direct training on specific safety measures
- Offer health & wellness programs, including access to an EAP to all employees with access to mental health and counseling support
- Regularly donate products to local charities for use in auction or for other fundraising goals
Understanding the California Proposition 65 Warning
At 1922 Commercial, we take the safety and health of our employees and our customers very seriously. As a small manufacturing business operating in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Amherst, Virginia, our President, managers, employees, and their families live and work in the community where we make our furniture. We have always protected the health of our associates and the environment, not because of any law or award or recognition, but simply because it was the right thing to do. We strive each day to be known for our craftsmanship, our quality service, and our integrity in all of our business dealings.
Proposition 65, officially named the "Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act," was passed into California State law in 1986 with the original intent of protecting drinking water sources from chemical contamination. However, since 1986, the scope of the law has grown to include such common substances as PVC and wood dust. There are officially over 800 ingredients and chemicals on the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (EHHA) list of carcinogen or reproductive toxicants. Many of the 800+ chemicals and substances are common ingredients and materials found in a variety of household goods such as lotions, jewelry, lamps, lead crystal glasses, automobiles, and furniture.
The Proposition 65 warning label is required by law on all products sold in the state of California that may contain any of these ingredients and materials. You will find the Proposition 65 label on such things as balsamic vinegar, boots and shoes, and prepackaged firewood.
One of the substances found on the Prop 65 list of potentially harmful materials is wood dust. As there is always a chance of wood dust or one of the other substances listed on Proposition 65 being present in our furniture, we are forced to include Proposition 65 warnings on all of our furniture. Under California law, there is a risk of large fines for not warning consumers and therefore, the specified warning label is placed on each piece of furniture 1922 Commercial manufactures. Further, the exact wording on the label is mandated by California law to read, "This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm."
While the warning label is only required for items sold to California, 1922 Commercial often works directly with FF&Es or OEMs without knowing where our furniture will be going. Many of our larger customers also store furniture in central warehouses and ship into California. For this reason it is also important for our dealers to leave these warning labels on the furniture when shipping to customers in California. Corporately we have decided to label every piece of furniture we make with the California Proposition 65 warning regardless of its destination.
1922 Commercial is committed to making beautiful, superior quality furniture that lasts for generations. We are also committed to our employees, associates and customers as a responsible domestic manufacturer of high end furniture. Be assured that we do everything possible to prevent harmful chemicals from coming into contact with you and your family.
