Office Furniture

Green purchasing guidance for office furniture, including:

Required specifications

Purchasers must include these specifications, unless not possible:

Look for surplus or remanufactured furniture before buying new in order to save money and reduce environmental impacts. Find information about the Washington State Surplus Program, including its virtual storefront of available products.
Products should be labeled that they meet California’s flame retardancy standards without the use of chemical flame retardants. For more information, see Center for Environmental Health.
In addition, furniture must have at least one of the following environmental or health attributes:
- Made of reclaimed materials (e.g., wood)
- Products contain at least 30% post-consumer recycled material and/or 50% total recycled content (Total recycled is the amount of post-consumer recycled content and post-industrial recycled content that the product contains)
- Products that are have a Declare Label, preferably those that are designated as “Red List Free”.
- BIFMA LEVEL 2 or higher certified (specify or look for highest level available including meeting credit 7.4.4 in the e-3 2019 standard).
- Cradle to Cradle Certificate or Material Health Certificate: v3.1 at the Gold level or higher OR v4.0 at the Silver level or higher.
- Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (for wood and bamboo).
- SCS Indoor Advantage Gold (low emitting).
- UL GREENGUARD Gold (low emitting).

Purchasers should avoid these specifications whenever possible:

All furniture products must be free of vinyl (polyvinyl chloride or PVC), PFAS fluorinated stain-resistance chemicals, formaldehyde, antimicrobial coatings, and flame retardants as well as furniture with Prop 65 chemicals, which are “known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm.”

These laws, rules, and executive orders must be included in the contract language:

EO 20-01: State Efficiency and Environmental Performance (SEEP)
- States that “reducing…the use of dangerous toxics in the products state agencies purchase will all have a direct positive effect on human health, particularly for vulnerable children.”
EO 04-01: Persistent Toxic Chemicals
- Directs the state to make available for purchase and use by state agencies equipment, supplies, and other products that do not contain persistent and bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals, unless there is no feasible alternative.

Find products that meet Washington’s green purchasing specifications:

Use surplus disposal to get rid of items you no longer need. Keep materials out of landfills and make funds for your agency.

Hazardous waste disposal guidelines and options: