Date of Award

2012

Advisor(s)

Edward Van Buren

Abstract

This summer, two of my friends and I begun the Recycle Furniture organization. Our organization collects donations of furniture from various individuals in our surrounding area (Suffolk County on Long Island). We are partnered with Habitat for Humanity and tried to pick up certain pieces that the Habitat families have requested. After collecting the donations, we stored them at our local school, Islip High School, with the blessing of Principal Eileen Rossman. After we had all of the pieces we want, we refinished and restored the furniture with the help of volunteers from Islip High School. Once we completed refinishing the furniture, we plan to move it in to the Habitat for Humanity houses. This saves the families the extreme burden of having to purchase furniture.

My primary job was researching on the benefits of reusing furniture. For my thesis, we will also be highlighting the social benefits along with the environmental benefits. In this thesis, we will not only be talking about the benefits of reusing furniture, but delving deep into the furniture industry and some of the harmful chemicals used. We will discuss the chemicals and some of their effects, along with the benefits of reusing furniture. We will also be talking about the overall impact of the furniture industry to our environmental impact, mainly in climate change and deforestation. To do this, we will predominantly highlighting these issues through the disciplines of environmental physics, environmental design and sustainable business.

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