GREEN COMMITMENT AND PRACTICES

CORPORATE COMMITMENT

We are committed to environmentally friendly products that meet customer requirements.  We also believe that true environmental change will come from products that are both green and economical.  Expensive "green" luxury items might make us feel better, but will have minimal impact on the environment compared to environmentally sustainable materials that can be widely used. Our corporate actions fall into four categories:

• Materials selection: Our Wenge and Mahogany color veneers use sustainable woods to mimic rare hardwoods.  The MDF core is FSC certified and formaldehyde free. 
• Efficient lighting: All of our products use CFL's (compact fluorescent bulbs) instead of less efficient incandescent or halogen bulbs. We have designed our lighting to produce warm, soothing light that is flicker free, instant on, and energy efficient.
• Recycling: Single stream recycling allows us to recycle a wide range of materials.
• Energy and water consumption: The laser and cooling systems utilize advanced controls to reduce energy and water consumption.  We do not treat our cooling system water with chemicals.

PRODUCTS

We offer four different veneer choices with all of our products.  Two of the veneers—Wenge and Mahogany color, are sustainable (more information below). The Cherry and Maple veneers are not considered "green" products, although will be replaced with more sustainable options later in 2009.

Our products are green for the following reasons:

• Approximately 80% of the wood thickness is the MDF core. This MDF is FSC, SCS, EPP, and LEED certified, formaldehyde free, and from 100% recycled wood fiber.
• Our Wenge and Mahogany color veneers are special. They are made from fast-growing, sustainable, farmed Basswood and Ayous wood. The wood is cut into slices, dyed, glued, and cut again to mimic Wenge and Mahogany hardwoods.  The result is a beautiful, sustainable wood that replaces rare hardwoods.
• UV resistant clear coating with virtually no VOC's during manufacturing and virtually no VOC emissions from finished product. 
• Efficient lighting using compact fluorescent bulbs.  Accent lamps use only 9 watts, and our lit panels (over 7 feet tall) use only 72 watts.
• Packaging uses recycled cardboard instead of foam padding.

If you need more detailed information about our materials and manufacturing process, please contact us.