Photo courtesy of Terra Cabinets
(Note: this is part three of a series on Do You Get A Headache When You Walk Into Your Closet?)
Terra Cabinets located in New Jersey was started by a brother and sister team combining twenty five years of experience in the cabinetmaking field. They pride themselves on their social and environmental practices at their company. Their company is socially diverse, workers are paid a living wage, and they source their materials locally to be in compliance with LEED standards.
In addition to manufacturing eco-friendly kitchen cabinets, Terra Cabinets also creates closet systems. They use both SkyBlend (particleboard that emits very low levels of formaldehyde) and Columbia Forest Products’ UV cured interior plywood that contains a formaldehyde free resin (“FFR Plywood”).
FFR Plywood contains a proprietary resin called Pure Bond, which does not contain any formaldehyde. The use of this plywood in construction, as with Skyblend, qualifies for LEED points, and offers an alternative to people who prefer all wood products. In addition, its resin is formaldehyde free unlike the resins contained in Skyblend, which emit very low levels of formaldehyde. However, it is more expensive than SkyBlend.
Terra Cabinets offers their floor mounted or wall-hung closet systems using SkyBlend in hardrock maple, rustic cherry, and white, and natural finish maple in plywood. The Company uses ABS edge banding as an added environmental feature in the manufacturing of all of their closet systems. This product is chlorine free.
As for shipping, Amy Canary, the sister half of the team, replied, “we can ship anywhere in the United States; the customer can provide a design or we can build and design based upon a designer or customer measurements. Measurements must be done very carefully to avoid big problems with installation.”
When you are thinking of adding a closet system to your house, think green and contact either Stor-X, California Closets, or Terra Cabinets (see Related Posts below). Each company offers something different and may have different prices for its closet systems. Just think, once you are totally organized with your new closet system, your only headache should be you have nothing to wear. We all know that is something that can easily be remedied!
Related Posts:
Do You Get A Headache When You Walk Into Your Closet? (featuring Stor-X)
California Closets–Even the Big Storage Boys are Going Green
Similar Posts:
- California Closets–Even the Big Storage Boys are Going Green
- Do You Get A Headache when You Walk into your Closet?
- Sierra Pine’s Medite II and Medex, Excellent Eco-Friendly Plywood Alternatives
- Tru-Stile: A Solution for Architectural Green Designed Doors
- Urban Woods Reclaimed Wood Furniture: Beauty in Sustainability
matt risinger says
Very cool post! Excellent choices and recommendations for closet companies. I wonder how the Container Store closet systems rate from a green perspective? Elfa is their brand. I used them in a remodel of my personal house and they have a good system. Keep up the great work… – Matt Risinger
Green Talk says
I actually spoke to them. They make 2 types of closet components. One is the open shelving which is powdered coated epoxy over steel and other is laminated particleboard. When I questioned them about the formaldehyde in the particleboard, I was told that the product emits .3 part per million, which meets the ANSI standards. In addition, they also told me that it only emit through the edge binding because the laminate encases the rest of the product. (ANSI requirements are equal to or less than .3 PPM for particleboard.)
All the products listed above emit equal to or less than .01 PPM of formaldehyde and do not contain urea-formaldehyde. I forgot to ask which formaldehyde is in the Elfa’s systems.
Some would argue any product with urea-formaldehyde is not acceptable green product. LEED specifies that you must use product without UF to receive points.
Others would say it only matters if the product emits low levels of formaldehyde, and it should not matter if you use UF resin.
As for the open shelves, I have never researched powder coated shelves. At first blush, they seem okay. Readers? They are made of steel but steel is a heavy emodied material (ie takes alot of energy to make the product).
It all depends on your wallet and how green you want to be. Both the Elfa steel and shelve systems have their pros and cons.
A plus of the Container Store is that they will design your closet system for free and you can actually go into a store and see the components.
Thanks for sharing the Elfa system because I have been struggling with my garage organization and I am against the use of PVC, which is what all the wall units are made of. Elfa makes a garage steel system which seems nice. Look for a post on my garage storage ideas in the future.
Aaron Wood says
Great article. Is there a master list of home storage/organization manufactures that are green such as the ones you mention?
Green Talk says
Aaron, not that I am aware of but as the world keeps getting greener, I suspect more and more will pop up. The key is to ask if their closet systems have urea-formaldehyde in it. If it does, I personally don’t reccommend it. Some people will tell you that low levels of UF are okay. In that case, look for certifications such as greenguard or green seal which is a third party certification. Anna
RTA Cabinets says
I’ve been searching for green products more as of late. I’ve spent some time looking at what Columbia Forest Products has to offer . I’ll have to take Green Talk’s advice and search for certifications such as greenguard or green seal . I’m still new to this but I like “doing my part” if you will.
Shelving says
Yeah! I agree this is cool! It is always so good to see responsible action by manufacturers. Now if we can just eliminate those who produce products that negate all the good work the planet will be in much better shape.