IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v1y2009i2p234-253d5116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Improving the Sustainability of Office Partition Manufacturing: Balancing Options for Reducing Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds

Author

Listed:
  • Frank S. Luisser

    (Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 7K4, Canada)

  • Marc A. Rosen

    (Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 7K4, Canada)

Abstract

Options are examined to improve the sustainability of office partition manufacturing by reducing volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions. Base VOC emissions for a typical plant are estimated using a mass balance approach. Pollution prevention and sustainability measures are assessed using realistic criteria and weightings. Sustainability has been considered from an industry perspective, considering factors like economics, environmental impact, quality, health and safety. Through a case study, it is demonstrated that several advantageous options are available for reducing VOC emissions in manufacturing office furniture partitions, and thereby enhancing the sustainability of that industrial operation. The measures deemed most viable include implementing several best management practices, not painting of non-visible parts, switching gluing processes, recycling solvent and modifying attachments. The results are intended to be balanced so as to improve their acceptability and adoptability by industry. It appears that it would be advantageous for manufacturers of office panels to evaluate the feasibility of these measures and to implement the most appropriate. The results are likely extendable to other operations in the wood furniture industry, and would improve their sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank S. Luisser & Marc A. Rosen, 2009. "Improving the Sustainability of Office Partition Manufacturing: Balancing Options for Reducing Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-20, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:1:y:2009:i:2:p:234-253:d:5116
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/1/2/234/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/1/2/234/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Parikka-Alhola, Katriina, 2008. "Promoting environmentally sound furniture by green public procurement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 472-485, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marc A. Rosen & Hossam A. Kishawy, 2012. "Sustainable Manufacturing and Design: Concepts, Practices and Needs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Marc A. Rosen, 2012. "Engineering Sustainability: A Technical Approach to Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(9), pages 1-23, September.
    3. Cristiane Karyn de Carvalho Araújo & Rodrigo Salvador & Cassiano Moro Piekarski & Carla Cristiane Sokulski & Antonio Carlos de Francisco & Sâmique Kyene de Carvalho Araújo Camargo, 2019. "Circular Economy Practices on Wood Panels: A Bibliographic Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pelša Inese, 2019. "Green Public Procurement: Case Study of Latvian Municipalities," Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 33(1), pages 207-221, January.
    2. Ghisetti, Claudia, 2017. "Demand-pull and environmental innovations: Estimating the effects of innovative public procurement," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 178-187.
    3. Ionela Corina Chersan & Valentin Florentin Dumitru & Cãtãlina Gorgan & Vasile Gorgan, 2020. "Green Public Procurement in the Academic Literature," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 22(53), pages 1-82, February.
    4. Anne Rainville, 2022. "Green Public Procurement in Mission-Orientated Innovation Systems: Leveraging Voluntary Standards to Improve Sustainability Performance of Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    5. Gianluca Orsatti & François Perruchas & Davide Consoli & Francesco Quatraro, 2020. "Public Procurement, Local Labor Markets and Green Technological Change. Evidence from US Commuting Zones," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(4), pages 711-739, April.
    6. Sofia Lundberg & Per-Olov Marklund & Elon Strömbäck, 2016. "Is Environmental Policy by Public Procurement Effective?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 44(4), pages 478-499, July.
    7. Yaolin Wang & Chenyang Liu & Xi Zhang & Shaoting Zeng, 2023. "Research on Sustainable Furniture Design Based on Waste Textiles Recycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Nissinen, A. & Parikka-Alhola, K. & Rita, H., 2009. "Environmental criteria in the public purchases above the EU threshold values by three Nordic countries: 2003 and 2005," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1838-1849, April.
    9. Jean De Beir & Céline Emond & Yannick L'Horty & Laetitia Tuffery, 2015. "Protecting biodiversity by developing bio-jobs: a multi-branch analysis with an application on French data," Working Papers 2015.03, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    10. Takuro Miyamoto & Naonari Yajima & Takahiro Tsukahara & Toshi H. Arimura, 2020. "Advancement of Green Public Purchasing by Category: Do Municipality Green Purchasing Policies Have Any Role in Japan?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-24, October.
    11. Witjes, Sjors & Lozano, Rodrigo, 2016. "Towards a more Circular Economy: Proposing a framework linking sustainable public procurement and sustainable business models," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 37-44.
    12. Frank S. Luisser & Marc A. Rosen, 2010. "Feasibility Analysis of Sustainability-Based Measures to Reduce VOC Emissions in Office Partition Manufacturing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-21, February.
    13. Shulan Yu & Zhen Zhong & Yalin Zhu & Jing Sun, 2024. "Green Emotion: Incorporating Emotional Perception in Green Marketing to Increase Green Furniture Purchase Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-24, June.
    14. Appolloni, Andrea & D'Amato, Alessio & Wenjuan, Cheng, 2011. "Is public procurement going green? experiences and open issues," MPRA Paper 35346, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Olkowicz Magdalena & Grzegorzewska Emilia, 2014. "Eco-design as a strategic way to competitiveness in global markets for furniture family-owned MSMEs," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 6(4-1), pages 203-214, December.
    16. Sofia Lundberg & Per-Olov Marklund & Elon Strömbäck & David Sundström, 2015. "Using public procurement to implement environmental policy: an empirical analysis," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 17(4), pages 487-520, October.
    17. Carsten Gandenberger & Heiko Garrelts & Diana Wehlau, 2011. "Assessing the Effects of Certification Networks on Sustainable Production and Consumption: The Cases of FLO and FSC," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 107-126, March.
    18. Brusselaers, Jan & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido & Buysse, Jeroen, 2017. "Green Public Procurement of Certified Wood: Spatial Leverage Effect and Welfare Implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 91-102.
    19. Brusselaers, Jan & Buysse, Jeroen & Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2015. "Green public procurement of certified wood: The impact on global welfare and welfare calculation itself," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211374, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Monica Da Ponte & Megan Foley & Charles H. Cho, 2020. "Assessing the Degree of Sustainability Integration in Canadian Public Sector Procurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:1:y:2009:i:2:p:234-253:d:5116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.