Green and Greener
As the world becomes greener, Bedworks is working to become greener too.
Local means greener
Our store is on Green Street. We better be green!
Shipping furniture from Asia, on the other side of the world, consumes enormous fuel. The shorter that products travel to get to you, the smaller the footprint they leave. Many of our designs (i.e. Floating Platform beds, Shaker dressers, Soft Edge Computer desks and Bowfront dining tables) we make locally right in our Central Square wood shop. We use oak, cherry and maple hardwoods that grow locally in nearby Vermont and Pennsylvania forests. Three-quarters of the lumber we use comes from sustainable, renewable sources right here on the East Coast.
For several designs we do not make, we use manufacturers in Vermont, Connecticut and New York. This not only reduces emissions, but it cuts down on the time it takes for your furniture to get to you.
Another man's Treasure...
As furniture makers, we naturally generate sawdust and off-cuts as well. Every month we produce at least three 55 gal. drums of oak and cherry sawdust. Starting in 2008, instead of throwing our sawdust out in the trash, we began offering it to the public on craigslist. Now our sawdust has found many amazing new friends and uses. Local gardeners use it for compost. A local potter, Karen Mahoney, has used it to fire her raku vases. Click here to see her photos of the artistic process.
Sawdust Fired Pottery:
Here's an interesting and creative article: 10 Uses for Sawdust
Renewable Energy
Then a group of young recycling wizards who call themselves Mister Pellets stopped by in their pickup truck. They take bags of our sawdust and compress it into pellets for furnaces. Our sawdust still has energy to burn!
Some shipments come to our store on pallets that can't be returned. Rather than discard them to a fate in landfills, we've begun bandsawing these bulky pallets into bundles of firewood as a gift for our customers. We think every little bit helps.
We are also donating fabric, wood and pillows to a Non-Profit called Extra's for creative learning. Since 1980, they've offered workshops and provided recycled materials to teachers, parents, and students. Their mission is to use reusable, recycled, and surplus material to stimulate learning.
- Dana Day, M.D.