AFMA Conference Promotes Environmental Stewardship - Successful Pilot Program Sets Model for U.S. Furniture Industry

Furniture World Magazine

U.S. furniture manufacturers should go beyond simply complying with environmental laws – they should be integrating an active environmental system into their overall business strategy, according to the American Furniture Manufacturers Association. The Association’s Environmental Affairs Committee unveiled an environmental management system called EFEC – "Enhancing Furniture’s Environmental Culture" – at its annual environmental conference. Stanley Furniture, based in Stanleytown, Va., and Drexel Heritage of Drexel, N.C., served as pilot sites for the system. "Development of the EFEC program required several hundred hours of work by dedicated environmental professionals within the furniture industry," said Dave Maddox, Stanley’s director of environmental engineering. "Implementing the pilot program required Stanley to take a close look at our procedures and formalize them." AFMA developed the EFEC program to promote and reward environmental excellence among home furnishings manufacturers. In development since 1999, the program’s main purpose is to challenge U.S. furniture manufacturing operations to strengthen their commitment to the environment by going beyond compliance with environmental laws to developing proactive environmental systems. "Stanley’s role as a pilot company was to provide an on-site demonstration of how to ‘walk the talk’ of EFEC – not only to understand the issues involved, but to embrace the EFEC concept," said Maddox. Environmental issues came to the forefront in the furniture industry following the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Since that time, manufacturers have struggled to balance the needs of manufacturing operations with an ever-expanding body of environmental regulations and public issues. Many of these regulations and issues are being addressed at AFMA’s two-day environmental conference this week, including the much-anticipated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules on industrial boiler operations (Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology – or Boiler MACT). The proposed Boiler MACT will likely make it economically unfeasible for many furniture manufacturers to continue operating boilers fired with wood left over from the furniture manufacturing process. "Over the years, many state authorities have encouraged the use of such wood-fired boilers by the furniture industry as an environmentally sound policy," said Bill Perdue, AFMA’s director of environmental and technical affairs. "But the EPA has determined that some industrial boilers may be major sources of hazardous air pollutants covered by the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The problem is that they want to treat small, wood- and coal-fired boilers that produce insignificant emissions in the same manner as large utility boilers fueled by coal, oil or natural gas. This move would force furniture makers to retrofit their boilers with costly emissions control equipment – equipment that could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars." AFMA is working closely with the EPA and other important regulatory agencies to minimize the rule’s economic impact on U.S. furniture manufacturers. In addition to sponsoring the annual environmental conference and representing the furniture industry before various governmental and regulatory agencies, AFMA’s Environmental Affairs Committee maintains a comprehensive Environmental Guide and other environmental resources on the AFMA website, www.afma4u.org The American Furniture Manufacturers Association is headquartered in High Point, N.C. – the furniture capital of the world – and represents more than 200 leading U.S. furniture manufacturers and 250 suppliers to the industry.