Make Sure that your Outdoor Furniture is Eco-Friendly

Green Furniture by geoftheref

TheGardenLady enjoys going to various flower shows. She just recently attended the 2012 Philadelphia Flower Show and she wrote about her experience in the last post. When she visits these flower shows she often sees interesting exhibits of furniture made for the outdoors. And this has the TheGardenLady wonder about what wood furniture one should use when one is making furniture for the outdoors. Here are some of the questions that come to TheGardenLady’s mind: Is the wood that is being used to make the furniture eco-friendly? How do we know if we are buying wood that is on an endangered list? Or how should we know if it is best to use oak furniture for the outdoors or pine wood or teak?

TheGardenLady has learned that there is an organization that sets standards that represent the world’s strongest system for guiding forest management toward sustainable outcomes. This organization is The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It’s a non-profit organization that sets certain high standards to make sure that forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible and socially beneficial manner. Products bearing the FSC logo, guarantee that the wood comes from a certified well-managed forest. The logo is used around the world and enables the buyer to know, for example, if the wood for outdoor furniture, is labeled as “FSC Certified”. If it is, this means that the wood that is used in the piece of furniture and the manufacturer that made it met the requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council.