Conscious Business of the Week: Sustainable Furniture by Way Basics

In an age where responsible green living is the way, how do we renovate our homes or offices while being ecologically sensitive? How do we create pleasing environments that nurture and inspire without buying new furnishings that use up our precious resources?

Fortunately it is just such growing ecological concern that creates a growth in creativity and manufacturing ingenuity!  Companies such as sustainable furniture manufacturer Way Basics are proving that with innovation and care,  decorators and home owners need neither sacrifice aesthetic nor purchase anew and just look the other way!

Sustainable furniture the Way Basics Way

Driven by their love for the planet and design, the conscious business Way Basics has created a furniture line that brings clever functionality and a modern decorative flair to interiors while preserving our exteriors.  Employing their high level of innovative design and environmentally sound manufacturing processes, Way Basics has taken the sustainable furniture industry to new heights.

Their furniture begins with a sustainably made, environmentally sound building block called zBoards®.  It took them ten years to perfect these groundbreaking boards that are as solid and structurally sound as wood furniture, yet made from recycled paper.  These superbly strong, completely recyclable boards weigh 62% less than particle board and truly exemplify the conscious design ingenuity that is so necessary today.

The boards are produced out of 99% post-consumer waste paper and the finished product is 100% recyclable, however, the magic of these boards goes beyond their environmentally conscious make up.  These boards require no tools to be put together with the industrial-strength double sided adhesive strips used as the binding.

This unique, versatile design allows for endless creativity as they can be used to build custom designs from bookshelves and desks to beds and chairs.  Especially great for the tool challenged, their ultra-easy to put together, sustainably made zBoards® are simple, practical and innovative while providing environmental peace of mind.

What is more is that they are affordable.  Being green is finally not going to cost you a ton of green!

Transforming the Furniture Industry with Conscious Business Practices

The founders of Way Basics show their conscious approach when they state “Our products and our way of doing business come out of the principles we live by every day. We believe in taking things back to basics, and simplifying as much as we can.” And they take this conscious MO all through their manufacturing chain, from who they purchase basic materials from to factoring disassembly, recyclability and product reclamation into buying decisions.

Way Basics begins by investigating and mitigating any negative environmental impacts from their operations.  They have essentially eliminated using unsustainable virgin materials from their product while designing them in a way that makes them also 100% recyclable.

They reward their vendors with increased business for partnering with them on their path to sustainability.  They have replaced outdated and inefficient equipment and identified and changed wasteful resource procedures.  And of course, their offices are completely furnished with Way Basics sustainable furniture as well as other more sustainable products like CFL lighting throughout their space.

Way Basics is also focused on giving back to our society as much as our environment.  In house they pay living wages rather than minimum wages.  Furthermore they have a heartfelt commitment to contributing to those in need.
As a furniture company, naturally their charitable efforts focus mostly on furniture banks that provide furniture to families in need.  They have donated Way Basics furniture to victims of natural disasters who’ve lost everything they owned, women and children escaping from domestic violence, working families below the poverty line, and others requiring a hand up.

Way Basics is also a founding member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, a non-profit group committed to promoting sustainable practices among manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. Their goal is to raise awareness of the sustainability issue, to assist companies in adopting good practices, to serve as an information clearing house, and to create a symbol of assurance for consumers to help them make good purchasing decisions.

Way Basics:  Simplifying Sustainable Design

Way Basics sustainable furniture has undeniably simplified sustainability in design and paved the way for responsible furnishing in an industry that is known to consume in excess.  A conscious business through and through, they are a prime example that with the right spirit and commitment to ingenuity, environmental responsibility need not result in the end of “new” furnishings, practicality and flair.

To learn more about Way Basics Furniture, click here.

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