Environmental Policy

Reduce… Reuse… Recycle… Environmental concerns are part of everyday life and have become a commonly asked question among our customers. Thomasville has long recognized that environmental responsibility is no longer an option.

We are committed to being an environmentally responsible manufacturer, and are proud to quote the following statistics regarding manufacturing materials used:

Premier Product

• Thomasville uses composite wood panels constructed of hardwoods and veneers, plied. American hardwoods represent 95% of Thomasville’s lumber requirements. It is purchased from private forest and state and national lands. These forests are replanted and reharvested and are referred to as “naturally sustainable forests”. Four million trees are planted daily. US Forest statistics indicated t hat native hardwoods are being regenerated at a rate over 80% greater than they are being harvested.
• Composite wood panels are among the greenest building materials available to consumers. They are produced from pre-and post-consumer recycled wood and wood residuals that would otherwise be wasted or end up in landfills, making exceptional use of our valuable wood resource. They take less energy to make than other building materials and produce fewer harmful by-products. They can be reused or left to biodegrade naturally when their service life is done. When manufacturer’s burn sawdust to produce the energy required to make engineered wood, they can have an almost 100 percent renewable system.
• Trees used for veneer application extends the utilization by as much as 16 times more than solids applications.
• Medium Density Fiberboard Panels
• Manufactured from all recycled wood products
• Resin used in the manufacture of MDF is low – emitting and environmentally friendly
• Waste from MDF production is recycled into boiler fuel and is not taken to the landfill
• Drawer Sides
• Raw materials for production of drawer sides are ISO 14000 Series certified
• Printed Backs (Duratex)
• Duratex is a high density fiberboard produced with Eucalyptus wood. Selected trees are converted into round wood for refining into fiber which is then processed into flat hard sheets by a wet process, using no synthetic resins. So the only resin that is used to link the fibers is the natural wood resin (lignin). This process does not use and receive any synthetic resin resulting and no emission of formaldehyde other than the emissions that come from the natural wood.
• Environmentally certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
• ISO 14001 Certified
• Duratex owns 90,000 hectares of land and timberland managed according to sustainable, environmentally correct principles (minimum tillage, soil fertilizing program, pest control, and fire control)
• Wood Waste
• Wood waste is burned in boilers that must meet EPA regulations. Other forms of solid waste is landfilled. Liquid Hazardous waste (from the finishing process) is shipped off-site for energy recovery according to EPA and DOT regulations. Solid non-hazardous waste (from the finishing process) is burned in our boilers as boiler fuel in Title V facilities and shipped off-site for energy recovery for Small Plants
• Water is used in boilers to create steam, but the water is recovered back to the boiler for reheating. Wood waste provides the fuel for producing this steam that heats the buildings, and provides heat for drying ovens in the finishing departments and dry kilns for drying lumber.
• No chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) are present in the foam cushions used in our seating
• Fabrics
• Many fabrics offered for Thomasville Contract seating are eco-friendly fabrics- contact your representative
• Packaging Materials
• Corrugated cartons are constructed of 38% recycled materials.
• Pyramid corner pads are constructed of 99% recycled materials
• Folded corner pads are constructed of 38% recycled materials
• Angle pads are constructed of 99% recycled materials

Select Product

• Major raw materials for particleboard and fiberboard is made up of recycled wood chip waste from lumber and furniture manufacturers.
• Thomasville grinds our own wood waste coming off the panel saws and burn it in our boiler to generate steam for process and building heat. Our boiler has a state of the art dust collection system removing 99.9% of our particulate emissions. Excess wood waste is shipped to local co-generation plants.
• Plant wood scrap is either repaired or re-cut into packing skid material, hidden rails, bottoms, and other interior parts. Excess scrap is ground the same as wood scrap.
• All plastic and metal strapping is chopped and recycled.
• All corrugation is slit and re-used in our packaging or baled and recycled.
• All stretch wrap film and microfoam is baled and recycled.
• All incoming pallets that cannot be re-used are ground and burned for steam generation.
• Employee activities’ teams recycle all drink cans and bottles.
• Our second larges source of energy is steam which is 100% generated from wood waste from our manufacturing process. Water is from our own wells and is recycled through our boiler in condensate return lines throughout the plant.
• Packaging is from corrugated cartons made from recycled materials and recycled wood skids are made from plant scrap.