Going green starts from the forest

The trend to ‘go green’ has been the most prominent trend in the furniture industry in recent years. However, not many people fully understand the work that these efforts entail. Haleywood, a member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and an active eco-friendly furniture company, reveals more about its venture into the ‘green’ arena.

In the past decade, there has been increasing awareness of and evident growth of concern about the destruction of the world’s forests. Companies have joined the green movement, organisations promote conservation of the environment and going green is a hot topic in the media. Much has been said about sustainability, using green packaging and other efforts to go green. However, going green is more than just these things - in fact, it starts all the way from the moment a tree is felled.

Tamaco Collection by Haleywood Industries Pte Ltd

Mr Ong Kim Chuan, Managing Director of Haleywood Industries Pte Ltd, shared, “Under normal circumstances, not more than 40 percent of a tree that is felled will be used. The other 60 or more percent of the tree, which includes the tree sap, tree heart, branches and knots, will be regarded as wood waste.” The spirit of going green includes ensuring that waste is minimal. Hence, wood waste must be fully utilised. Wood waste can be further treated and processed into wood chips, which can in turn be compressed to make pieces of solid wood. Mr Ong further elaborated how wood waste is used to create pieces of beautifully crafted wooden furniture.

Haleywood’s efforts to embrace the environment can be seen as early as six years ago when the company started to implement the three-ply laminate for its furniture. The three-millimetre thick top and bottom layers are made of quality solid wood and sandwiches a second grade solid wood. These three-ply woods can be used in the same manner as other solid woods.

While there is no doubt that the quality of wood matters during the manufacturing of furniture, how the company processes the wood also plays a big role. Woods with knots are often deemed to be deformed as they are not aesthetically pleasing to the eye. However, Haleywood has turned the whole situation around by applying a special treatment to the rejected woods, giving them a new, beautiful look. Such furniture pieces made from rejected woods feature extensively in one of its latest collections and have been very well-received in the European market.

In addition, being environment-friendly extends beyond the manufacturing process to the entire production chain, including packaging. Haleywood also started the Green Packaging Scheme six months ago where all packaging materials used are recyclable. In fact, corrugated boards are used as the inner protection despite the higher cost of production. The extra cost incurred by these green efforts is absorbed by Haleywood and the prices of its green furniture remain the same as their solid wood range.