Environmental Policy

Overview

At Interior Concepts we take our corporate citizenship very seriously. We take care that our products benefit the natural environment as well as they do yours. As we constantly improve our processes, we look for and take every opportunity to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We use only the materials, energy, and human resources needed to produce a particular component or product. The following are many of the ways we fulfill our corporate citizenship which reflects our corporate values.

 

Certifications

  • All Interior Concepts furniture products are MAS Certified Green® as a low VOC emitting furniture product. Qualified projects that use Interior Concepts workstations may be eligible for the LEED for Schools IEQ 4.5 credit under option 3, the LEED Commercial Interiors 4.5 credit, or the CHPS EQ 2.2.5 credit.

 

Materials

  • Interior Concepts staples its panel fabrics onto particleboard in lieu of gluing the fabric.
  • Panel fabrics are made of 100% post-consumer and/or post-industrial recycled fiber or compostable material. It is made with no back coating so that it too can be recycled or composted. Panel fabrics also carry the Green-e certification which means that 100% of the energy used to make these products is matched by Green-e certified renewable energy certificates.
  • Excess or scrap steel is recycled.
  • Interior Concepts utilizes paints that are virtually free of VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) and are non-toxic. Solvents are not used in the powder coating process; no damaging volatile vapors are released during application and powder over-spray is reclaimed for subsequent use.
  • Interior Concepts achieved a 95% reduction in wood waste by partnering with a company that repurposes the majority of material, with a small portion incinerated to generate power.

 

 Suppliers

  • Many of the components Interior Concepts uses to manufacture its products are made with recycled materials that reduce the amount of virgin material needed. For example, our particleboard substrates are made with 100% recycled and recovered wood fiber, which includes post-industrial recycled fibers and recovered fibers.
  • Interior Concepts metal casegoods contain between 14-80% of recycled materials. The metal casegoods are recyclable.

 

 Packaging

  • Many of our workstations are delivered to the customer in the “knocked-down” state. Because of this, many of our workstations are delivered on pallets and/or blanket wrapped. This greatly reduces the amount of packaging materials we use (i.e. cardboard, foam, plastics, etc…) and reduces the amount of shipments we would have to use if we shipped our products mostly assembled. This, in turn, reduces the amount of petroleum fuels we use and allows us to enjoy the benefits of pooled shipments.

 

 Business Practices

  • We produce top-quality products that are designed to withstand years of use and come with a limited lifetime warranty on select products. Due to our quality, end-users will not be quickly repurchasing our products as they might have with more expendable products. This saves natural resources in the future.
  • Instead of replacing an entire workstation, end-users can simply replace the portion that is damaged because panels and surfaces work independently within the workstation.
  • Prototype or product development workstations are donated to various charities (International Aid, churches, schools, and other organizations) in lieu of disposing of them.
  • Because many of our products are custom designed and manufactured, we only use what we need to manufacture our products. For example, we cut all of our plastic components to the exact size required, reducing “spoilage”.
  • All excess paper and cardboard in both our offices and manufacturing facilities is recycled, reducing landfill debris. Additionally, all literature is available electronically and e-mails are sent for quotations and pricing to reduce paper consumption.