In developing the Think chair, we considered where it comes from, how it is made, and what it will be when it's no longer a chair.

To create the Think chair, we worked with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), selecting only materials considered safe to the environment. The Think chair, certified at the Gold level, is the first product to ever receive Cradle to Cradle™ Product Certification from MBDC. The Cradle to Cradle™ Product Certification evaluates a product for human and environmental health impacts throughout its lifecycle and its potential for being truly recycled or safely composted. Certification of a finished product also requires the evaluation of energy-use quantity and quality (i.e., relative proportion of renewable energy), water-use quantity, water-effluent quality, and workplace ethics associated with manufacturing.  You can read about our collaboration with MBDC on their web site.

At the same time, the Institute for Product Development in Denmark conducted a complete Life Cycle Assessment evaluating the chair's lifelong impact on the environment - from materials extraction through production, shipping, use, and end of life.

The results of the Life Cycle Assessment are reported in the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), created per ISO 14025. The EPD shows the Think chair's impact on environmental factors like global warming, smog, resource depletion, and waste.

The Think chair with eco-intelligent and cogent:connect fabrics is the first product ever to be level™ 3 certified to the BIFMA e3 sustainability standard. All other models of the Think chair are level™ 2 certified to the BIFMA e3 sustainability standard.

According to BIFMA, the level™ conformance mark ensures a comprehensive, independent and impartial assessment of the environmental and social impacts of a product’s manufacture. level makes it easy to identify products that have been evaluated against a consensus-based, multi-attribute sustainability standard.

A few more environmental facts about Think:

• up to 98% recyclable by weight
• disassembly for recycling takes about five minutes using common hand tools (hammer, screwdriver, etc.) Click to download disassembly instructions 
• up to 37% recycled content
• Think is the first ever certified level^TM 3 product, the highest BIFMA e3 standard.
• Think holds the NF Environnement Label in France for environmental quality
• Think has SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certification for indoor air quality. This certification helps the Think chair contribute toward earning a LEED point for low emitting furniture.

More information about the environmental considerations of the Think chair is available in the Think Environmental Brochure. For the Product Environmental Profile and LEED contribution, visit the Environment section.