Making sense of green tags | sourcing sustainable materials
How-to source sustainable materials
Making sense of green tags and finding the right thing for the job.
Sustainable materials and products – masses of them out there, but how do we assess exactly how sustainable anything is? There are myriad schemes, labels and means of accreditation, great variation between and within countries, huge scope for monetising the sustainability supply chain and the larger the organisation the more obscure the details.
A few suggestions:
1 Seek out small producers
Like Foresso who make a timber terrazzo sheet – locally sourced, using 85% recycled material, inherently durable and can be ground down to start again at the end of its use. A business with clear sight over their whole operation, making all decisions based on environmental consideration resulting in clear sustainable credentials. More info on timber types, fabrication, use and disposal on The Wood Guide.
2 Look for the detail behind the claim
Dodds&Shute are dedicated to sourcing responsibly produced furniture, a mission backed by a serious supply chain audit, sustainability report and a very clear website with product ranked according to environmental performance. Extremely helpful partners in any project involving sourcing and specifying furniture.
3 Tap into shared information
Haworth Tompkins in collaboration with co-signatories of Architecture Declares have published an open-access sustainable materials database, a generous move that is really useful for smaller practices and non-designers, and makes absolute sense – we don't have time for competition. Check their regenerative design page for information, research and project examples.
