On average the classroom furniture in Australian schools is replaced every 7-10 years, much of this stock ending up in landfill as schools struggle to reduce their carbon footprint whilst extending the procurement dollars of the education department. From a principal and business manager’s perspective, there is more to selecting furniture than mere aesthetics, there are key questions that need to be answered such as what is going to last, is it going to be able to be repaired and what is going to happen with it at the end of its life.
When choosing sustainable school furniture for Australian classrooms, there are several key factors that have to be taken into consideration when buying school desks, school chairs and school storage. These factors include materials, certifications, sustainable lifestyle costs and circular economy thinking. The guide outlines the sustainable school furniture criteria that must be taken into account when selecting the best school furniture for classrooms. The furniture range from VE Furniture, which is designed in Melbourne, will also be highlighted in the guide as an example of furniture that meets the sustainable school furniture criteria for Australian classrooms.
When assessing furniture for schools, focusing on the total value of the furniture throughout its lifecycle, rather than the initial cost of purchase, is more important than ever. Assessing the durability and potential for repair of furniture is crucial when determining the total value of the furniture throughout its lifecycle.
Classroom furniture must be made from the safeest, most sustainable materials available. Minimum standards for sustainable furniture in schools would be for products to be made from FSC-certified timber and E0-rated boards.
If furniture is designed with modular components then individual parts can be easily be replaced with minimal impact on the rest of the product and the overall lifecycle cost of the furniture reduced dramatically to 15 years +.
VE Furniture’s Care and Conserve program extends the life of our products through furniture resurfacing, reupholstering and parts replacement.
This would ensure the furniture would last and withstand constant use within your busy school environment as outlined in AFRDI’s Level 6 Test which replicates use in high traffic commercial environments.
Why Sustainability Matters in School Furniture Procurement
Schools are the most used facilities in any community and are subjected to huge amounts of wear and tear on a daily basis. The worst type of furniture is that which cannot withstand normal wear and tear, incurring huge costs for replacement of furniture that has only had service for a few short years.
Procuring sustainably at first seems to add an extra layer of complexity to the normal furniture purchasing process. Schools would typically decide on classroom furniture based on price per item over a typical 5 year life of the stock. When however you reassess the way you are spending money, over a 10-15 year life of stock and include the cost of potential repairs and eventual disposal of furniture then a more sustainable option becomes clear.
As school furniture is procured within education departments, many states have been commencing to include environmental sustainability into their broad school furniture procurement frameworks. To capitalise on these evolving requirements, getting in early is much smarter than waiting for the required framework(s) to be formally finalised.
Sustainable in relation to school furniture (desks, chairs, storage) means 3 things: materials, manufacturing and end-of-life. In other words, the responsible procurement of furniture in relation to schools and similar learning institutions, will involve consideration of the ‘sustainabiltiy’ of the furniture over time.
The furniture must be made from responsible sourced materials. Timber must be sourced from FSC certified plantations. All panels must be rated E0 for formaldehyde emissions.
Manufacturing furniture can have a ‘sustainable’ focus by limiting waste, using recycled materials in the manufacture of furniture. Steel is one of the most recyclable products and can be used to create frames of school furniture, with a powder-coated finish rather than chrome, which is also more durable.
End-of-life pathways... How will the product be managed at the end of its life? Can it be repaired or are components able to be separated and recycled? Will the frame be able to be re-used with a new top or seat? Sustainability is far more than just a green sticker on a cheap product.
The key area of consideration when evaluating school furniture for sustainability vs. cost is its durability or life span. A sustainable desk will last for 15 years or more in a classroom full of students and staff. The cost of said product over the life of the furniture will be half that of an item that lasts for 7 years before needing to be replaced.
Start with the Frame: Welded Steel vs Bolted Assembly
Take a closer look at the surface: E0-rated laminates can withstand scratches and even water penetration while withstanding tough daily use. VE Furniture classroom tables feature high-quality tops constructed from FSC-certified timber substrate paired with durable, modular frames which allow the desktop to be swapped out should it become damaged.
Edging: Look for furniture that has been finished with edge protection in the form of ABS plastic. The desktop surface will be much harder to scratch and chip than cheaper edgebanding products which tend to chip and wear within the first 18 months of use in classrooms.
The classroom chairs in your school receive more punishment than any other piece of school furniture. Chairs are often sat upon and leaned back in, occasionally even used as a launching pad in a game of musical chairs. Moreover, many hours are spent by students sitting in chairs whilst at school, making comfort of extreme importance and ergonomics of the highest health value.
Back pain is found to affect between 18% and 24% of school age children on a monthly basis, with this number increasing into the teenage years. This is a major health concern and school furniture can greatly affect a child’s posture and ability to concentrate in the classroom. A comfortable seat and backrest are extremely important in maintaining a healthy back.
Like with the school desks, also with school chairs sustainability can be evaluated along the same lifecycle stages as was described before for the school desks. The material of the frame, the seat and backrest shell(s) and any other parts can be evaluated. Can all parts be replaced individually or are they made of non-toxic materials that can even be recycled after use?
Furniture tested by AFRDI (Australasian Furnishing Research and Development Institute) for strength and durability to withstand Heavy Commercial Use, provides the assurance needed that furniture selected will last the long term. Look for the AFRDI sticker which identifies products that have been put through rigorous testing.
In terms of sustainability, you must also take into consideration school lockers. Although they do not get used as often as other pieces of school furniture, lockers are certainly used very frequently. In secondary school corridors for example, lockers get opened and slammed shut hundreds of times every school day. If the board swells, the hinges come loose or the lock gets jammed after two years, then you have experienced a great fitout cost that the school should not have had to incur.
Steel weld frames vs bolted steel frames. Lockers go through a lot of wear and tear. If a hinge wears, a bolt loosens or a lock jams after two years then that is a fitout cost that was avoidable. Welded steel frames of lockers are better than bolted. So we suggest a fully welded steel frame with an E0 rated MDF carcass and ABS-edged doors. VE Furniture’s Secure It locker range uses this type of construction and has a 15-year warranty.
For classroom furniture storage of equipment, classes’ artwork, building supplies for STEM lessons, school library books, et cetera look to a quality school trolley. The bags and tubs can be easily wheeled to different parts of the school to make storing and organizing easier, saving time for more important things. The ability to re-site within a short space of time means that the need for further storage in another area of the school is reduced.
Why are school furniture certifications so important to help ensure your school purchasing decisions support sustainability? In simple terms, certifications are tested, tried and proved to support sustainability claims made by suppliers of school furniture. In this article we look at a few of the main certifications used within school furniture in Australia that VE Furniture adhere to within their school furniture range.
The Australasian Furnishing Research and Development Institute, AFRDI, provides durability testing to ensure that a product will withstand the wear and tear of constant use in heavy commercial environments such as secondary schools. The strength and stability of a product is fundamental to its sustainability and schools must insist that their suppliers provide evidence of AFRDI testing on their product ranges.
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification of the timber used in our school furniture products and their components ensures that timber has been sourced from responsible forestry practices. The FSC certification is an assurance of responsible use of timber and is confirmed through a third party audit of a company’s chain of custody for timber products. VE Furniture’s products can assist schools with meeting sustainability procurement policies of Government and in particular those schools purchasing through state government tender panels.
This material complies with AS/NZS 1859.2 (Particleboard for Buildings. Formaldehyde Emissions). AS/NZS 1859.2 classifies MDF and particleboard into 4 categories of formaldehyde emissions, with E0 being the lowest formaldehyde emitting category. For health reasons it is recommended that MDF and PB be used with E0 formaldehyde emitting boards. VE Furniture use only E0 formaldehyde emitting MDF and PB across all of our products.
ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 45001 (workplace health and safety) show that a supplier has systemised their processes. VE Furniture holds all three certifications through Citation Certification, which means our manufacturing, environmental practices and workplace safety are independently audited.
Circular economy has moved from being an alternative way of thinking about use of resources to becoming business as usual in Australian education. There is now an increasing focus on school furniture that is designed to last as long as possible and which can be repaired, reupholstered and have individual components re-placed over time. Properly designed furniture can have a decade or more of additional service life and will retain most of its material for recycling at end of life.
This means that in dollars and cents terms, schools can expect to save lots of money over the long haul of a particular product’s life. For example, the desktop could be replaced numerous times over the lifetime of the whole desk frame before it would be cost effective to replace the whole desk. Similarly, soft seating such as chairs could be reupholstered numerous times to extend the life of that product by another decade or so.
The VE Furniture Care and Conserve program is based on the same principles as their quality products. As VE Furniture designs and manufactures their furniture range at their Melbourne facility they have spare parts to match all products as well as the original maker to repair and complete the work to the same standards as new products.
New research from Education Daily, ‘Circular procurement: rewarding durability and repairability over disposability’, looks at how investing in high quality furniture could offer greater value in the long term than going for cheap options that have to be replaced frequently.
Modular furniture doesn’t have to mean mediocre design, by making parts which wear easier to replace, you can ensure that the parts which don’t wear as easily are not thrown away. A steel welded frame can last for many years, while the laminate surfaces are easily replaced every few years or so.
By designing our products to make the parts that wear most (the parts that touch) easily replaceable and offering desktop replacement on-site wherever possible (saving on transport emissions too), we can extend the life of the major component parts; the desk frame, made of welded steel.
Incorporating in flexibility in your classroom to meet the changing needs of your teaching is easy with modular furniture. Long rows of individual desks can be rearranged to create collaborative learning spaces in just two years time, without the costly investment of new furniture.
Schools, just like any organisation, will look at the components that make up a piece of furniture and analyse the life expectancy, how safe it is for use in a school environment and its sustainability. We take a close look at FSC certified timbers, E0 class MDF and particleboard and powder coated steel frames used as structure.
Forestry that maintains biodiversity and supports local communities is important for us to support. Sustainably-sourced Timber from FSC certified forests is the best material for furniture made from wood and we verify the chain-of-custody for all of our suppliers through documentation such as certificates and records.
There are many types of MDF and particleboard on the market today but in furniture making for school environments, VE recommend using E0 rated board. This is because it emits very low amounts of formaldehyde and is one of the safest choices for enclosed learning environments. The whole VE range has been changed to E0 rated boards for indoor air quality.
The Steel Frame of a piece of furniture is also extremely recyclable. The coating of the steel, rather than being chrome plating, is powder coating which is durable and does not have the negative environmental aspects of chrome plating. You can rest assured the frames will last the warranty period and withstand all the normal wear and tear a school can throw at them.
The sustainability of furniture does not have to be ‘one-size-fits-all’. Different areas of a school require different types of furniture in order to be effective. The furniture in the various learning areas should match the function of the space in order to get the most use out of it.
Flexible individual chairs, stackable chairs or convertibles that allow for individual, paired or group work. A chair with a light frame, lockable castors and sturdy seats and backrests will allow for changes of use quickly without damage to floors.
Heavy-duty bench seating options with power supply points and under seat storage for tools, materials, etc. Our STEM range of maker tables are designed to withstand the wear and tear of regular use by students in art, science and other homework clubs and after school programs.
Modular store shelves, stackable reading chairs as well as mobile display trolleys that can be used to rearrange between individual study areas as well as group study areas as needed. Creating a haven that supports focus yet is not rigid or ‘institutional’ is the core objective for a library.
Collaborate with early years specialists and academicians to design kindergarten furniture that cater to the safety of young children. Kindergarten furniture can be scaled down and delivered in flat pack boxes with rounded edges to prevent any tip-over accidents. Giving kindergarten furniture different colours and finishes enables a variety of environments to facilitate play and creative learning.
So how do you get the most value from your school furniture spend? Decisions made today on school furniture will influence your school’s environment, finances and sustainability over the next 10 years or more.
Ask for total cost of ownership not just the purchase price of a product. It could cost 20% more up front but last twice as long so it actually is cheaper over a 15 year period. Also look at the repair availability, cost of parts and the length of warranty offered by a supplier.
Sample furniture items as well as swatches of materials and fabrics for interior design to determine what best suits your needs before placing an order for full production. The VE Furniture model library as well as samples and swatches of products are available for your review.
Check if the supplier is listed on government panels. We are an approved supplier on the Victorian Government Panel and the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) panel, approved to supply furniture to schools in these systems.
Consider the way your furniture will be delivered to your school. Furniture that is shipped in modular form (i.e. deconstructed) will generally mean more of your classrooms can be serviced from one truck. Ask your supplier if they can deliver your furniture in this way.
While the points above can assist in ensuring the most appropriate furniture is selected for your school, it is also very important to know what to avoid. There are a number of common errors that even experienced business managers and procurement officers can fall into when selecting furniture for schools.
Don't select based on lowest price per unit. Products that have been priced greatly below the market contain lower quality materials & construction (e.g. flat packed boards rather than cut & mitered, products held together with bolts rather than welds, less durable quality of finish). The saving in the short term will quickly erode as the item will need to be replaced in 3 years.
The formaldehyde emission from a board (expressed in µg/m³) is also important to take into account. Common classifications for indoor use are E0 (best), E1 and E2 (less good but acceptable). Formaldehyde in classroom environments (poorly ventilated) can affect the air quality and health of the children and teachers.
Just because a supplier calls their product ‘eco’ does not mean all is well. You need to check for Third-Party certified ‘eco’ claims such as FSC (timber), AFRDI (plastics), ISO (general eco). Ask for supplier’s documentation and avoid supplier’s marketing literature.
Be sure to consider the repairability of school furniture when purchasing. The ability to replace individual components should be a factor that schools consider when choosing between different products and suppliers. If a supplier does not offer any form of repair service then the likelihood is that you will end up replacing the whole item should one part fail.
It is complex to assess the upfront cost of purchasing sustainable school furniture against the needs of your school in the long term. As outlined above though there are clear indicators of sustainable furniture. If you purchase furniture made from FSC-certified timber, which has E0 boards used throughout, with welded steel frames and designed to be modular to allow for the replacement of worn components then you have bought sustainably. Don’t rely on the words of the supplier though, look for third-party verification of the claims they make in relation to the sustainability of their products and calculate the total cost of ownership of said products over a 10-15 year period.
When schools get this right they create amazing learning environments that meet the needs of their students and are within budget. Importantly they are aligned with the expected practices of circular economy in Australian education – so you can be confident your decisions will last long after the initial purchase order has been approved.