Setting the table for sustainability.
Meet the family: Tommy and Charlie, sons of sales/marketing vice president Tom Southwell.As a family-owned business, Grand Rapids Chair Company has always focused on long-term interests over short-term rewards. Our fundamental purpose is not to maximize quarterly earnings, it’s to create something of lasting value – for our customers and employees, our children and grandchildren, our community and our planet.
Not only do our sustainability efforts help protect the environment, they can help our customers earn credits toward LEED certification.
That’s why environmental sustainability is just as important to us as building high-quality products. We are constantly seeking new and more effective ways to conserve natural resources, reduce waste, minimize pollution and preserve the earth for generations to come. We source wood from certified renewable forests, recycle all our internally generated scrap, use a water-based wood finishing system, and much more.
Our steps toward a more sustainable future include:
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Establishing an in-house "Green Team" that analyzes the environmental impact of our processes and procedures, investigates more earth-friendly methods, and raises the “green awareness” of our employees, suppliers and customers.
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Manufacturing steel products with a minimum of 30% recycled content and when available purchasing steel with 100% recycled content.
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Recycling 100% of our internally generated steel and aluminum scrap.
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Painting our steel and aluminum products with a baked-on powder-coat process that eliminates VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds).
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Sourcing solid wood table tops from certified renewable forests only.
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Implementing an environmentally friendly water-based wood finishing system that has reduced VOC emissions over previous systems.
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Using low-formaldehyde particleboard for upholstered seat boards and laminate or veneer tops.
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Recycling all shipping skids, cardboard and paper.
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Recycling all foam, vinyl and textile scraps from our upholstery operations.
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Adding high-yield, renewable bamboo as a tabletop edge option.
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Offering a full range of 100% recycled fabrics from Momentum Textiles, CF Stinson and Coral of Chicago.