How buying vintage can help save the planet
We’ve all heard about fast fashion, but what about fast furniture? What do you know about it? Well, in short, it’s equally as bad as fast fashion. This post explores what fast furniture is, why it’s bad and how embracing vintage furniture and decor is one way to help minimize the negative environmental impacts of fast furniture.
Fast furniture is cheap, mass-produced furniture
Fast furniture refers to mass-produced furniture that is made quickly and cheaply. Fast furniture production prioritizes the speed of the process over the quality of the materials used. Fast furniture is often made from cheap materials like particle board, plastic veneers and MDF (Medium-Density Fiberboard). IKEA is a culprit that quickly comes to mind when thinking of fast furniture, but many other companies like Wayfair, Walmart, Costco and Overstock supply fast furniture. In fact, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find furniture that isn’t ‘fast’. However, fast furniture’s convenience comes at a large environmental cost.
How fast furniture negatively impacts the environment
Cheap furniture means big waste problems
When we opt for cheaper, fast furniture, we end up with more waste in the landfill. The inexpensive materials used for fast furniture don't hold up as well, meaning the furniture needs to be replaced every few years. All those discarded sofas and tables add up quickly in the landfill. No studies were conducted in Canada, but according to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans discarded over 12 million tons of furniture in 2018, up from 2.2 million tons in 1960 (up 450%!) In addition, when furniture ends up in landfills, it's not just out of sight, out of mind. It can take centuries for these items to break down, and in the process, they can release harmful chemicals into the environment that contribute to pollution and damage to natural habitats.
Planet versus production
Making fast furniture often involves a lot of energy and resources, which unfortunately has many downsides for our planet. Here are some of the big culprits:
Deforestation: Since most furniture needs wood, there's a big demand for trees. To keep up with the demand for wood, trees are often cut down faster than they can grow back. This can lead to deforestation and harm to the natural habitats for many plants and animals. Plus, when forests disappear, there are fewer trees to soak up carbon dioxide, making the problem even bigger.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Making and moving all this furniture contributes to carbon emissions. A lot of fast furniture uses non-renewable petroleum-based products; products that also contribute to carbon emissions through their production. Greenhouse gas emissions are further compounded when fast furniture ends up in landfills because it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas, which contributes to fast furniture’s already big carbon footprint.
Excessive Waste: To make furniture quickly, factories often use machines. While this speeds up manufacturing times, it can also mean that more materials get used than are needed, which leads to wasted materials.This excess material also ends up in the landfill. Then there's all the packaging to protect the furniture during shipping, which is often made of non-recyclable stuff like plastic. It too ends up in landfills!
Chemicals Used: Fast furniture production often involves using chemicals to treat wood, dye fabrics, and finish pieces. Some of these chemicals can be harmful to the environment, and others like VOCs, formaldehyde, and flame retardants can even leak into the environment and pollute the soil and water when the furniture is thrown away.
The appeal of fast furniture
Fast furniture seems appealing:
Amazon can deliver you a nightstand the next day.
The Internet is filled with IKEA hacks for how to turn a $100 cabinet into one that sells elsewhere for $1000.
That on-trend curved sofa may not be on trend in two years, so why spend a lot of money on it?
Convenience and cost are driving demand for fast furniture. People are tired of ordering a sofa and having to wait 16 weeks for it to be manufactured. In addition, it’s hard to spend ten times the amount of money on something when you think you can get something similar at a discounted price - especially if that item might go out of style in a few years. So what is one to do?
Go vintage, go green
Buying vintage, antique and second hand furniture is one way to help reduce the environmental impact of fast furniture. Here’s how it helps:
Less Resource Consumption: By purchasing vintage or antique furniture, you’re extending the life cycle of an item that already exists. This reduces the demand for new materials and minimizes the energy required to produce new furniture.
Durability: Antique and vintage furniture was often built with craftsmanship and quality materials, such as solid wood, which makes them much more durable than modern fast furniture. This means they can last for generations, reducing the need for replacements.
Lower Carbon Footprint: Buying second-hand means the carbon footprint from manufacturing and transportation is already "paid off." Vintage furniture that has already been produced is not contributing to further deforestation or industrial pollution.
Waste Reduction: Buying second-hand reduces the amount of furniture that ends up in landfills. Instead of throwing out an old piece of furniture, you’re giving it a new life and preventing waste.
Supporting Sustainable Practices: Often, purchasing vintage or antique furniture supports smaller businesses, local artisans, or second-hand stores, which can have a smaller environmental impact than mass-produced fast furniture.
Unique and Timeless Design: Beyond environmental benefits, vintage and antique furniture often feature timeless designs that are not only more durable but also more aesthetically unique and timeless. These pieces often carry a sense of history and craftsmanship that modern mass-produced items lack. If your algorithm on Instagram looks like mine then you’ve probably seen the trending reels that have an excerpt that says something like, “Why don’t you just go to IKEA” and then it pans to spaces or markets filled with curated antiques to juxtapose the soul antiques and vintage bring to a design and the lack of it when using fast furniture like IKEA.
Vintage and second hand pieces don’t have to be hard to find either. The images below show items I have sourced from local antique markets or ads on Facebook Marketplace. The column on the right are the thrifted finds. The column on the left shows comparable fast furniture and decor pieces I saw at Homesense today. In my opinion, the thrifted items have a lot more character, have higher quality materials (wood versus mdf, glass versus plastic) and were purchased for the same, and oftentimes, less expensive price than the new items from Homesense.
If you are interested in bringing more soulful pieces of furniture into your home, while also doing your part to reduce the environmental impact of fast furniture, then take a look at the pieces listed on Maddenda; there may be something for your home. You can also follow Maddenda on Instagram (@mad.denda) for all its newly available vintage furniture, home decor and lighting pieces.
