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Described by the judges as “both aesthetically elegant and sustainable,” Silea™, by Gunlocke, was designed to help reach the company’s environmental goals by utilizing mixed materials that are highly recyclable and keeping the product’s end of life in mind. Silea contains 81 percent pre-consumer (2.5 percent post-consumer) recycled content and mixed materials that are easily separable and can be reused or recycled.
As the footprint of offices shrink, Gunlocke is also dedicated to shrinking the environmental footprint left from its products.
Silea is the first of Gunlocke’s casegood lines to utilize the structured Design for the Environment (DfE) framework to incorporate life-cycle thinking into the product development/design process. DfE provides a platform for asking questions, assessing information and making choices to effectively incorporate environmental thinking into products. Every major component in Silea was scrutinized through the DfE lens.
“The Silea desk system was designed utilizing the rigorous Design for the Environment program, which incorporates life-cycle considerations in the development of a product and ensures the product’s ability to be reused at the end of its useful life,” remarks Childs. “This new tool will greatly enhance the sustainability of products and furniture over time.”
GUNLOCKE
(800) 828-6300
www.gunlocke.com
The majority of raw materials used in production are primarily from within the United States and Canada. The core materials are primarily (more than 50 percent) from within 500 miles of the company’s manufacturing plant, with the majority coming from Canada. Gunlocke has implemented a controlled wood and FSC chain of custody certification program which precludes the sourcing of endangered species as well as sourcing materials from high conservation value areas.
In 2009, 57 percent of Gunlocke’s total energy consumption was generated from the burning of biomass wood materials, which is a renewable resource. By burning scrap wood materials, the company is able to shrink the environmental footprint left by its manufacturing process by dramatically reducing the amount of waste that has to be landfilled. The remaining energy is derived from natural gas (21.5 percent) and electricity (21.5 percent).
Schoessler Lynn adds that Silea is “a beautiful, contemporary office system that has been designed with the environment in mind—from choice of raw materials to energy used to manufacture the product to its end of life use. Well done.”