Analysis of key environmental areas in the design and labelling of furniture products: Application of a screening approach based on a literature review of LCA studies
Open accessAbstract
Environmental impacts of production and consumption can be controlled and reduced through instruments such as ecodesign and environmental labelling, which typically involve the analysis of complex product systems. The definition of more sustainable product options is not a trivial task and it can be complicated by factors such as the technical complexity and heterogeneity of products, available literature and impact assessment metrics used. The principles of systematic review and meta-analyses have been used to tailor an approach that can be used, to support eco-design and environmental labelling, for screening the environmental literature of products and the preliminary analysis of key environmental areas and improvement options. The approach has been applied to the furniture product group, for which 82 documents related to environmental aspects for different furniture products were collected. The screening and analysis consisted of three steps: selection of reference impact categories; screening of studies according to a qualitative–quantitative framework; analysis of selected studies and extraction of relevant information. The approach can, in general, be adapted to any products for addressing the further development and implementation of measures with which to promote more sustainable options (e.g., ecodesign, environmental labelling, green public procurement criteria).
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Maintenance and cleaning of furniture in the use phase have negligible environmental impact.
“while maintenance and cleaning in the use phase are negligible (Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016).”
From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016
Section 4.3.4 (Product use and maintenance) says impacts from cleaning and maintenance generally appear marginal, which supports the direction of the claim. It does not say they are invariably negligible; the same section notes that product durability and duration of use can dramatically affect furniture’s environmental impacts. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredKeeping buying new furniture with environmental criteria and limiting choices to a few models and designs would benefit future remanufacturing, since the critical design phase sets the possibilities for remanufacturing and disassembly.
“This would benefit future remanufacturing, since the critical design phase sets the possibilities for remanufacturing and disassembly (Sundin et al., 2009;Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016;Öhgren et al., 2019;Bumgardner and Nicholls, 2020).”
From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016
Section 4.3.4 says designing furniture to be easy to disassemble could reduce environmental impacts, and §4.3.5 recommends reusable components that are easy to separate. This supports a role for design in disassembly and recovery, but the paper does not specifically discuss remanufacturing or say that design sets its possibilities. Section 4.1 more cautiously says design may have some influence on end of life. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe main environmental impact of furniture stems from production and material supply.
“The main environmental impact of furniture stems from production and material supply”
From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016
Minimizing the number of materials and components, making them easy to identify and separate, and increasing the use of recyclable and reusable materials can reduce environmental impact.
“i.e., minimizing the number of materials and components, making them easy to identity and separate, and increasing the use of recyclable and reusable materials (Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016).”
From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016
By carefully selecting materials and increasing the use of furniture, its environmental impact can be reduced.
“and by carefully selecting materials and increasing the use of the furniture, its environmental impact can be reduced (Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016).”
From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016
Most of the environmental impact of furniture can be attributed to its production and material supply.
“As most of the environmental impact of furniture can be attributed to its production and material supply (Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016), taking steps to prolong its life makes sense.”
From Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture (2023) · cites this paper as Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016
The companies participating in the present study emphasized financial implications as the main motivator for change.
“This was emphasized as the main motivator for change by the companies participating in the present study”
From Is Prolonging the Lifetime of Passive Durable Products a Low-Hanging Fruit of a Circular Economy? A Multiple Case Study (2019) · cites this paper as [59]
The Results and discussion section describes a review of furniture life-cycle assessment studies, not findings about companies participating in the citing authors’ study. Searches for financial implications, company motivations, and a main motivator for change found no passage addressing that claim. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kaddoura, M., Kambanou, M. L., Tillman, A.-M., & Sakao, T. (2019) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su11184819 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Implementation and management of a circular public procurement contract for furniture
Lingegård, S., & von Oelreich, K. (2023) · Frontiers in Sustainability · doi:10.3389/frsus.2023.1136725 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“This would benefit future remanufacturing, since the critical design phase sets the possibilities for remanufacturing and disassembly (Sundin et al., 2009; Cordella and Hidalgo, 2016; Öhgren et al., 2019; Bumgardner and Nicholls, 2020).”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Cordella, M., & Hidalgo, C.
- Affiliations
- Joint Research Center (ES)
- Leitat Technological Center (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Cordella, Mauro
- ORCID
- Cordella, Mauro
- Venue
- Sustainable Production and Consumption
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 8
- Pages
- 64-77
- ISSN
- 2352-5509 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2515857034
- Cited by
- 50
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 2.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sustainable Production and Consumption (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- TECNALIA Publications (Fundación TECNALIA Research & Innovation) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Joint Research Centre (European Commission) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Sustainable Design and Development
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Sustainable Building Design and Assessment
- Keywords
- furniture products, environmental impact assessment, life cycle assessment, eco-design, environmental labelling, impact categories, sustainable product development, green public procurement
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