14 Best Sustainable Furniture (2022)

12 million tons. That’s the amount of furniture waste thrown away in the United States in 2018. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), furniture waste is the second-largest urban waste product.

Furniture is difficult to recycle for several reasons. Furniture can be covered in chemicals – whether consumers know it or not. A lot of the time, the materials used to make furniture are not recyclable, or there is not a facility near you with recycling capabilities.

Choosing furniture that is made with sustainable products, quality materials, and ethical labor is one way to combat this stream of pollution. Purchasing eco-friendly furniture that is built to last is an up-front investment that could save you money in the long term. Here are a few companies that are making quality furniture that is so gorgeous, you will never want to toss it out.

1. Etsy Reclaimed Furniture

Etsy is an online marketplace offering creators and artisans a platform to sell their creations. All orders are shipped carbon-neutral. Etsy has been offsetting its carbon emissions for years as part of the company’s sustainable practices.

Craftspeople who work with reclaimed wood are not adding to the demand for newly harvested wood and they are saving the reclaim from going to the landfill. Etsy has a large list of tables, shelves, desks, and other creations that are made out of reclaimed furniture. You can find these furniture pieces by going to Etsy’s website and typing “reclaimed furniture” in the search bar.

2. What We Make

What We Make is a fine furnishings company based in Illinois. They have been in business for 15 years and continue to be family-owned and operated. During the past 5 years, the company has truly committed to its pledge of being environmentally friendly.

They use reclaimed old-growth wood from barns, hand-welded metal, a special blend of concrete, and VOC-free finishes for their furniture. This reduces the number of toxins that furniture can bring into your home.

They offer a huge selection of gorgeous furniture for every room in the house. The cost for eco-friendly furniture is not the same as paying for a desk from a big box store. There is a price tag for quality, sustainable, ethically-made furniture. What We Made also sells their reclaimed wood furniture creations on Etsy.

3. West Elm

West Elm is a well-known and respected eco-friendly furniture brand with retail locations across the United States. They have been listed as the most sustainable home furnishings retailer on Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable U.S. Companies list for the past four years. In fact, West Elm is the only home retailer on the list at all.

West Elm has furniture for every room and occasion. From bedding to patio furniture, kitchen, art, storage, you name it, they have it. Chairs, tables, sofas, towels, curtains, plates, bowls, glasses, and that is not even the tip of the iceberg.

They have a long list of environmentally conscious certifications to go along with their extensive catalog of furniture. They are the first home retailer to join Fair Trade USA. They have no less than 10 nonprofits that they partner with listed on their website.

They source FSC®‑certified, recycled, and upcycled materials whenever possible. They are certified non-toxic and screen their products for 100,000 chemicals and VOCs.

4. Masaya & Co

Masaya & Co. was founded in 2014. One of the founders had a desire to show the spirit and craftsmanship of her home, Masaya, to the world through sustainably crafted furniture. Today they have an extensive catalog of furniture listed on their website.

Their beginning did not start in 2014. Maderas Sostenibles, their Nicaraguan sister company, began in 2008 as a reforestation project. The company established tree farms on deforested land from 2008 to 2012.

Then in 2012, they opened their own mill and carpentry shop to make their furniture and started selling it in Central America. Now, the company manages more than 1100 acres of reforested land. The area provides a sustainable, long-term, renewable source for timber. Bonus: the area has become a wildlife sanctuary. 

5. Burrow

Burrow creates furniture with simple designs with great functionality. Their products are made with quality products and are built to last. They have an extensive catalog of items listed on their website.

They market themselves as a company that listens to what the customer wants and gives it to them. The furniture designs are made to expand or change with your preferences and lifestyle.

The company sells directly to consumers, meaning they hear customer feedback and listen to it. They have pet-friendly furniture and rugs that are resistant to scratches and tears. Burrow will send customers a free fabric sample if they would like to do a scratch test with their pets before committing to the furniture. 

Burrow makes their furniture easy to assemble, easy to move and designed to grow with you. Assembly is made easy and the website says it should only take minutes to put a couch or loveseat together.

They are as easy to take apart as they are to put together, which makes moving simpler. These furniture pieces are made to change and expand, so you can add more sections to a couch or add more shelving units later on down the road.

6. Emeco

Emeco is a USA-based company that has been in business since WWII. They have been making chairs in factories in the United States for more than 7 decades. In 1944, they took recycled aluminum, took it through a process to make it extraordinarily strong, and the 1006 Navy Chair was created.

Created to withstand Navy ships, this style of chair can now be found in restaurants and office buildings. They now have quite a few chairs and stools listed on their website.

Emeco took 2020 to step back and take a look at its sustainability practices. They measured their carbon footprint and took action. Here are a few of their recent company improvements.

They found a way to increase the amount of recycled materials that go into their chairs without compromising integrity, cut their water consumption by 30%, and are currently using less than 2% of virgin plastic in their products. All of their sustainability practices are on their website.

7. Alabama Sawyer

Alabama Sawyer is a small business in Alabama that makes modern products from fallen trees. It is a family-run business with a planet-centered business model. Alabama Sawyer has kept hundreds of logs out of the landfill and turned them into stylish furniture.

More than 90% of the trees used in their products come from municipalities, businesses, and homeowners in Alabama. Once the fallen trees are picked up, they are shipped to Birmingham to be cut into slabs. The wood is dried and then brought to the Alabama Sawyer woodshop where they turn the slab of wood into a masterpiece.

8. The Citizenry

The Citizenry offers a variety of products from artisans across the globe. According to their website, they chose the name “The Citizenry” to encompass all of the artisans, designers, and craftspeople’s work they carry in the shop.

The company travels to each country they source products from to establish relationships with makers. This way, they make sure only the highest quality, local products are being used in the products. Since they have a direct relationship with the artist, their prices are usually lower than other boutiques.

“We set out to build a company that celebrates the people behind our products.”

9. Avocado

Avocado is a sustainable mattress company that has expanded to include all things sleep-related. Their products are made in California in their own factory. They only use certified organic, natural, and non-toxic materials in their products.

They take their pledge to be a sustainable company very seriously. They are a certified B Corp, a member of 1% for the Planet, and Climate Neutral certified.

Avocado’s factories are powered by renewable energy and they are always striving to be completely zero-waste. They even have a herd of sheep to make sure their non-vegan products are made humanely.

“Our mission is to be the most respected source for organic and natural mattresses, pillows, and bedding at affordable prices — while maintaining environmentally conscious, ethical, and sustainable business practices across our entire supply chain — to help safeguard your health and protect our planet.”

10. Maiden Home

Maiden Home is a eco-friendly furniture company that strives to make high-quality, fashionable pieces that help you show off your style in your home.

Every piece is handmade around North Carolina in the United States. All of the furniture is made with all-natural fabrics without harsh chemicals.

Each piece of furniture is made to order. Craftsmen who have been in the trade for decades are the ones making these furniture pieces.

These pieces of furniture will have details that you will not find in mass-produced furniture. Maiden Home’s website says they celebrate the skills of their partners with each design they craft.

11. Made Trade

Made Trade is a marketplace of more than 150 brands and makers. They are a small, family-run business that started in 2018 intending to create an easy-to-use marketplace for ethically made and sustainably sourced goods.

The website states that every brand, maker, and artisan featured in the shop is vetted through an application process. The selection of products includes home goods, furniture, and clothing – just to name a few.

Made Trade collects information about the products, manufacturing process, labor conditions, materials, fair trade status, third-party verifications, and more before adding their products to the store. This process ensures all of the products align with Made Trade’s values.

Every product is sourced from sustainable materials, made in safe working conditions, and workers are paid a livable wage. Made Trade has pledged to be transparent about all of this information and it can be found listed on each product on the website.

12. Joybird

Joybird makes mid-century-inspired furniture. Each piece starts as raw materials and is built to order. The website boasts a “one-of-a-kind furniture buying experience you won’t find at a big-box retailer.” They make handcrafted furniture crafted from the finest materials that are customized for the customer’s exact needs.

Joybird’s website offers furniture for the bedroom, living room, dining room, office, outdoors, and home decor. They have physical locations in Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Brooklyn.

Each order with Joybird plants a tree. They work with One Tree Planted to help reforestation and restoration programs in North America.

13. Medley

Medley was founded in 2005 by two brothers. Medley builds everything at their workshop in Los Angeles. They do not have a brick-and-mortar store, which saves them money and in return saves the customer money. According to their website, they are involved in the day-to-day activities of the shop to guarantee the highest quality products are being produced. All of their materials; the wood, fabric, the foam, the wool, and the finish all have some sustainability certification.

Medley gives back to reforestation efforts too. For every tree they use in making furniture, they partner with National Forest Foundation to plant 3x the amount of trees they used.

14. Greenington

Greenington’s president and founder began manufacturing a line of bamboo furniture in 2004 after more than 20 years in the field. All of their products are made in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certified factories and are tested by a certified lab.

Greenington chose to use bamboo for several reasons. Bamboo is a fast-growing plant making it a sustainable, renewable resource to use for furniture. It does a great job of pulling carbon dioxide out of the air and turning it into oxygen. They practice sustainable harvesting methods with the bamboo they use. There is no clear-cutting, the bamboo is harvested by hand and the root system is left intact so the plant can regrow.

Their catalog of sustainably-made bamboo furniture is impressive. They offer products for the living room, dining room, bedroom, storage options, and more. They are transparent about their manufacturing process, clearly laying out the full process for customers on their website.