Bush Modular Office Furniture Is Manufactured Using Sustainable Practices

Bush Furniture is a leader in the ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture industry, and especially in modular office furniture. They have been around since 1959, and have two business segments: Bush Furniture North America and Bush Furniture Europe. Not only do they mainly distribute in these areas, but they also manufacture their goods there as well. Their North American manufacturing locations include: Jamestown, NY, Little Valley, NY and Erie, Penn. They also have two manufacturing plants in Germany. As a US citizen, and especially in these hard economic times, I really like to see (a support) companies that have products made in the U.S.A.

They have three main brands:

• Bush Business Furniture - makes commercial grade executive and modular office systems.
• Bush Furniture - high quality RTA furniture for the home; including bedroom, entertainment, storage and home office solutions.
• Röhr - functional and aesthetic commercial-grade case goods office furniture.

In their industry, Bush has won numerous industry awards, many of them for design and achievement. But one of the most exciting things about this company, are their initiatives in recent years to expand their "Green" initiatives. We just recently purchased a new office chair that used recycled materials, so this type of thing has been on my mind lately, so as we get ready to set up our new home office, I like that Bush modular office furniture is environmentally manufactured.

Bush is environmentally aware from the beginning to the end of their manufacturing process. They start with recycled or recovered wood fiber, and then they reuse or recycle much of their factory byproducts. The leftover wood chips and sawdust from manufacturing Bush modular office furniture are used for such diverse things as boiler fuel to cow bedding at local farms. They also reuse and recycle scraps of paper, plastic, cardboard, light metal and heavy steel. Any large manufacturing machines that are taken out of service are stripped down for parts reuse and recycling. Bush even makes their own pallets from factory scraps! Not only in the factories, but also in their offices, unneeded items are recycled; including computer equipment and peripherals, light bulbs and batteries.

Besides recycling byproducts from manufacturing Bush modular office furniture, the company has other green initiatives. This includes initiatives to cut energy use with weekly energy audits to identify and correct any potential energy waste. It also includes sustainability in their design process. Products are designed to minimize waste creation. Two of their recent green successes includes a 60% reduction in angle-board material use and a 25% decrease in shrink wrap use (by simply switching to high-performance stretch film).

This is just a small look at changes that a large company can make to be environmentally friendly. I was impressed with the many diverse ways that Bush recycled and reused products as well as ways they cut back on their energy use. It made me aware of ways I wasn't familiar with, and made me wonder what else I can do to help the environment. But, the first thing I do know is to support Green U.S companies. So when I go shopping for my new office furniture, the first thing I am going to do is look at Bush modular office furniture!