We design with ‘Life Cycle’ thinking

Engaging in the sustainability debate

Sustainability is a very wide and complex topic, which we are continuing to explore to better know how we can contribute to the enduring health of our people and planet.

In a market place afloat with ‘green wash’, our mission is to present our customers with credible products that help them to keep their footprint light.

Life Cycle Thinking

Designing great furniture has environmental impacts. Materials are consumed, supply chains and manufacturing processes are employed, and, from the time the product makes its home with you, there will be maintenance and end of life impacts.  At Instinct Furniture, consideration is given to the environmental impact of the product through a process known as Life Cycle Thinking.

In employing Life Cycle Analysis our designers consider the different stages of the product over its lifetime, with the goal of reducing its overall environmental impact.

Things we do

• We design furniture to help you do your job better – and we design it to be beautiful, functional and strong. That means our furniture will stay relevant to you, and keep on doing a great job longer – now that’s sustainable.
• Use supply chains, materials and manufacturing systems that minimise emissions and have the lightest environmental impact we can possibly achieve.
• Detail our furniture for ease of maintenance, repair and recycling.
• Calculate and analyse the emissions for each product based on annual sales, as a benchmark of our environmental performance.
• Use biodegradable packaging wherever possible.
• Actively engage in staying abreast with the sustainability debate.
• Use like minded suppliers.
• Never stop striving to improve.

From our ISO 14001 management system.

Our Environmental Policy 

Ethical environmental and sustainable practices are an integral part of Instinct Furniture’s strategic goals, and we pursue a process of ongoing improvement to minimise our operational impact on the environment. Our goal is to work toward utilising sustainable, renewable and/or recyclable materials and processes in the design, manufacture, sale and distribution of our furniture. To this end we have adopted the following commitments and Policy Objectives:

• To have zero breaches of environmental legislative requirements and regulations.
• To comply and work toward exceeding local regulations for discharge, noise, air emissions and land use.
• To continually improve our environmental performance and work toward minimising pollution created from our production process, sales and distribution.
• Our design and production planning process will seek to audit and utilise environmentally sound materials and processes, and optimise usage through design consideration within a Life Cycle perspective.
• Analyse and monitor our inputs to accurately establish effects allowing investigation of alternatives to reduce impacts.
• Analyse and monitor our outputs ensuring they meet legislation, whilst also looking for methods of reducing waste and optimising waste streams for recycling. Strive to eliminate environmental hazards from routine and non-routine activities.
• Analyse alternatives to influence suppliers’ environmental impacts that are under our direct control.