HÅG's environmental profile

As early as in 1991, HÅG was one of the first chair manufacturers to focus on environmental policy. This resulted in HÅG recycling soft drink screw caps and ketchup bottles for use in its plastic chair components. Today HÅG uses everything from plastic bags to shampoo bottles and aluminium in the production of our chairs. As much as 95-99% of a new HÅG chair is recyclable.

HÅG’s current green environmental profile is documented in the annual EMAS report, which report a reduction in waste volume. The GreenGuard report documents that the chairs are free of chemical contamination and do not transmit hazardous chemicals or particle emissions to your indoor environment. The EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) documents environmental performance of each chair. Measured for CO2 emission throughout the chair life cycle (15 years), the results show that HÅG chairs emit between 36 and 55 kg CO2, while the figure for competitor products lies in the 100-120 kg range. The final place to cut back on CO2 emission is in the actual manufacturing process.

HÅG’S NEW CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTS POINT THE WAY
The new corporate environmental accounts are based on the “The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Initiative.” The GHG analyses which manufacturing processes have the greatest environmental impact, e.g. office heating, factory operation, travel and waste management. The accounts show that the most important areas in which HÅG can reduce its CO2 footprint, is in the transport of chairs and the reduction of business travel.

For HÅG’s CEO, Lars I. Røiri, the corporate environmental accounts represent the final component in its overall environmental reporting. “The Environmental Product Declaration and the corporate environmental accounts prove that we are leaders in all those areas where we have sought to minimise environmental impact over the last 20 years. But the same accounts also tell us where we have to improve to become even better– and we have already taken initial steps to minimise the environmental impact of chair transport and business travel activities,” concludes Lars I. Røiri. 

HÅG IS IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL CLASS OF ITS OWN - THIS WILL BE VISIBLE AT THE COP15 CLIMATE CONFERENCE
When the COP15 Climate Conference gets underway in Copenhagen, the 350 delegates will find themselves comfortably seated in an environment-friendly HÅG Futu office chair. No less than 97% of the chair is recyclable and up to 50% of the chair’s components will comprise recycled materials. The manufacturing process neither uses environment-unfriendly chromium-plating or glue and only seven different materials make up the finished chair. The chair is therefore easy to sort at source, making it almost 100% recyclable – which is why HÅG Futu was chosen as the climate conference’s office chair.

For further information, please contact:
Carl Peter Aaser | VP Environement at HÅG and Scandinavian Business Seating | +47 92 62 02 26 | carl.aaser@sbseating.com
Lars I. Røiri | CEO at HÅG and Scandinavian Business Seating | +47 22 59 59 00 | lars.roiri@sbseating.com
For high resolution images, please contact graphic designer Elin Modal | +47 22 59 59 02 | elin.modal@sbseating.com

Facts about Scandinavian Business Seating:
Scandinavian Business Seating is Scandinavia’s leading player within the development, design and production of office chairs and seating groups for private and public sector office environments. The group owns the Scandinavian brands HÅG, RH and RBM. Common to all brands is a strong focus on visual design, health, quality and the environment. The group’s products are distributed through an independent network of dealers in Europe. The main markets are served by our own companies in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, The Benelux countries. the UK and France. The chairs are manufactured at production facilities in Norway and Sweden. Scandinavian Business Seating is headquartered in Oslo. The company has more than 600 employees working together to realize the company’s vision: “To make the world a better place to sit!”.

”WE DO NOT INHERIT THE EARTH FROM OUR PARENTS. IT IS ON LOAN TO US FROM OUR CHILDREN.”

CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTS BASED ON THE GHG PROTOCOL
One of the most important elements in climate management is the preparation of corporate environmental accounts. HÅG’s model is based on the international standard, Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative, which is the most widely used international standard for measuring greenhouse gasses. The GHG protocol consists of two accounting standards (“corporate accounting” and “reporting and project accounting”), which explain how to measure and report harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol is the result of a 10-year collaboration between the private business sector, authorities and the environmental movement and in 2006 it formed the basis for the ISO 14064-I standard.

THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTION
The five principles of environmental production are:
1. Low weight
2. Few elements
3. Quality materials (that can be recycled)
4. Long product life cycle
5. “cradle to cradle”*).

*)At HÅG the office chair life cycle is referred to as “cradle to cradle” as opposed to “cradle to grave”. What this means is that HÅG chairs do not end as scrap, but can easily be taken apart so the individual quality components can be recycled. This is a fact worth remembering when you consider that it takes nine times as much energy to develop a new aluminium base than it does to recycle an old one.

EMAS
EMAS stands for: Eco Management and Audit Scheme and is the EU’s voluntary scheme for companies seeking to go beyond the stipulations of mandatory environmental requirements. Through its participation in the scheme HÅG is committed to regular environmental reporting which must document environmental output and performance. HÅG was the first office chair manufacturer in Europe to become EMAS registered in 1995.

GREENGUARD ENVIRONMENTAL INSTITUTE
The GreenGuard Environmental Institute (Georgia, USA) is an industry-independent, non-profit organisation which in association with Air Quality Science offers to test products and approves furniture and materials for use in office environments.

EPD/ISO 14025-EPD
EPD stands for: Environmental Product Declaration. In 2003 HÅG began mapping and documenting the environmental impact of all seating solutions. In December 2004, HÅG was the first manufacturer of office furniture in the world to achieve ISO 14025-EPD environmental certification for all its products.