Berkline Goes Green

We know that recycling is good for the environment. That’s why we’re committed to including “eco-friendly” materials in our manufacturing process. By using quality, environmentally conscious elements in our furnishings, we hope to increase consumer demand for recycled materials and contribute to a greener, sustainable future. Its not just good business, it’s good for the consumer, good for dealers, and the right thing to do. We’ve learned, as has the country, that saving, reusing, recycling and rethinking how we do things make for good practices and good business.

Some Berkline “green” efforts include:

	Reflex Natural foam - A variety of Berkline furniture contain Foamex Reflex Natural foam, which replaces some of the petroleum content of traditional foam. It uses soy as a principal ingredient and is made partially from plant-based renewable raw materials. Foamex produces the foam with zero emissions. This foam enables us to maintain quality while cutting the need for petroleum products. In today’s world, using less oil is a positive all around.
	Recycled Foam - We reuse excess foam by grinding it up as filler for use in new products.
	Eco-suede - Manufactured with 17 percent recycled materials, Eco-suede is a polyester fiber made from recycled textiles and plastic bottles. Eco-suede closely resembles true suede leather. Each yard of fabric represents one 2-liter soda bottle, so a typical reclining sofa saves 16 plastic bottles from going to a landfill.
	Bonded Leather – Bonded leather is a material composed of 80% to 100% leather fibers (often waste scraps from leather tanneries or leather workshops). By using bonded leather to cover many of our products we make valuable use of leather remnants that have been routinely discarded in the past. The result is an economical substitute for leather on upholstered furniture with less waste.
	Sawdust - As part of its environmental rethinking, Berkline is using the mounds of sawdust generated from manufacturing operations to heat its Morristown, Tennessee manufacturing facilities in winter. The sawdust is used to create steam heat for our factory in the winter and also serves as supplemental heat for our corporate offices.
	Recycled Packaging – We receive massive amounts of cardboard and plastic wrapping used in packaging the variety of materials shipped into our plants. These materials are routinely recycled through local recycling plants.

We see Berkline Green a benefit to our customers and as smart business. While building Berkline’s future we are helping to make a difference for the future of our communities and our country. We won’t change the world on our own, but it’s a contribution of which we’re proud.