A Fantastic Example of Recycling, Reusing and Strategic Planning by Corporate Amercia

New Life Hardwood Floors gives kudo's to Diana Louise Carter and the Rochester, N.Y. Democrat and Chronicle for reporting on Raymour & Flanigan's corporate initiatives to reduce waste and reuse resources.

For centuries nothing went to waste by the Native North Americans or the European settlers. Nothing. It wasn't until disposable plastic became so popular that "everything" became disposable.

Now, we are re-finding the ability to reuse and recycle to simply lower waste production and ease some of the stress to the environment. To that end, this is a wonderful example for us all to follow.

Take a look at some of the common sense things they have done. I particularly liked collecting waste motor oil and re-using it:

Green initiatives

To cut energy consumption and reduce waste, Raymour & Flanigan:

Installed automatic energy management systems with sensors to ensure energy isn't being used if it's not needed.

Replaced 17,000 incandescent light bulbs in its showroom lamps with electricity-saving compact fluorescent bulbs.

Started a recycling system and collection plant for packaging materials.

Collected waste oil from its fleet and used it to heat a 12,000-square-foot garage at its Liverpool transportation center.

Purchased green energy credits — wind power — from Juice Energy for its 50 upstate New York stores.

Started replacing showroom carpeting as needed with carpeting made from post-consumer waste, namely plastic bottles. New stores get this kind of carpeting to start with.

Replaced 2,500 computer monitors with more energy-efficient liquid crystal display monitors.

Raymour & Flanigan in Henrietta. The material is sorted so it can be recycled, one of the many changes the company has made to become more green.">
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Eric Rivas of Rochester sorts packing material as he unpacks furniture at Raymour & Flanigan in Henrietta. The material is sorted so it can be recycled, one of the many changes the company has made to become more green. (WILL YURMAN staff photographer)

Raymour & Flanigan furniture stores go 'green'

Raymour & Flanigan has cut use in 81 stores

Diana Louise Carter • Staff writer • May 8, 2008

The greenest part of Raymour & Flanigan stores isn't visible from the showrooms.

You have to visit utility rooms to get an idea of how the Syracuse-based furniture seller is diminishing its "carbon footprint" in 81 stores across seven states. There, automated systems control its energy use through a network of sensors to shut off what's not in use or turn down what's being overused. They cut energy use by 10 percent to 15 percent.

On the company's loading docks, employees strip plastic, Styrofoam and corrugated cardboard from 3.4 million pieces of furniture a year and ready it for recycling. Since Raymour & Flanigan stopped throwing out all that stuff in June, it has diverted some 16 million pounds of material from landfills.

And up on Raymour & Flanigan roofs, black heat-absorbing membranes are being replaced with white heat-reflecting membranes, cutting down on air-conditioning needs.

With efforts like these and a new energy supply partnership with the upstart power vendor Juice Energy, Raymour & Flanigan has embarked on a brave, new and green world.

The company is among a growing number of businesses trying to cut their greenhouse-gas producing activities, thus reducing their "carbon footprint." Other local companies that are going green include Nixon Peabody as it builds new offices in Albany and New York City.

Raymour & Flanigan announced its efforts in the Rochester area in conjunction with Earth Day last month, but it insists this isn't just a green fad.

"Raymour & Flanigan is in this for the long haul," said Sonny Rousell, the company's vice president of real estate and construction.


A long-range plan is key because the costs of making a building meet Energy Star standards — such as a building under construction in New Jersey — take 61/2 years to recover, Rousell noted. But after that, he said, "you're making money" for the life of the building. Similarly, a roof membrane might take a decade for energy savings to match outlay, but the roof lasts 20 years.

Meanwhile, lighting changes can be recovered in under 24 months, particularly when they earn tax breaks or qualify for grants aimed at curtailing energy-hogging light fixtures.

"Tax incentives allow these incremental costs to no longer be a hardship," Rousell said.

The company started recycling packaging in 2006, spokeswoman Vicky D'Agostino said at the Henrietta store.

That began when one of the company's three owners, CEO Neil Goldberg, noticed the recyclable symbol on some Styrofoam that was being thrown out at a loading area, D'Agostino said. Knowing that the company's trucks were returning to home base empty after making deliveries to stores, a recycling system was born.

The company hired an additional nine people to handle the recycling and expects to hire another three, D'Agostino said.

Green initiatives haven't extended to the furniture Raymour & Flanigan sells — yet. D'Agostino said the company would consider doing so if customers begin requesting it.

A local green building expert, Nancy Jendryaszek, an architect and partner with Pathfinder Engineers LLP in Pittsford, commended Raymour & Flanigan's initiatives. Jendryaszek is on the board of the Upstate New York chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.

"When you have a large property portfolio and you do some of these very basic things, it all adds up," Jendryaszek said. Running their own recycling center may be more than some businesses can emulate, she said, but even homeowners could learn from the furniture company's energy saving tips.

Jendryaszek said she hopes the company will take green policies even further, in areas such as water conservation, finding furniture manufacturers with similar green values and adopting green cleaning procedures.

Raymour & Flanigan and Juice Energy were a good match, both companies agree.

"It was very gratifying to see their commitment to green and see it resonate with them," said Deirdre Lord, founder of Juice Energy. Wind power actually costs more than other sources of power, but in buying 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources such as wind power, Raymour & Flanigan earns a tax credit that makes it worthwhile.

Rising energy prices have eaten up savings Raymour & Flanigan would have seen since signing on with Juice in January, D'Agostino said. But Lord said the changes couldn't have come at a better time, since energy prices have gone up 30 percent.

"Most clients' carbon emission is really tied to their electricity consumption," Lord said. "It was the appropriate time to be pro-active and ... to have an impact on their carbon footprint."

DCARTER@DemocratandChronicle.com

A New Life for Old Forest Wood

When the first settlers arrived in North America, there were approximately 28 Million acres of Long Leaf Pine forests. Now, it is estimated that hopefully, there are 11,000 acres left.

The trees that compromised these immense, ecologically diverse habitats reached full maturity at about 150 to 400 years of age. The dense overhead growth, allowing limited amounts of rain and sunlight to the forest floor, caused much slower growth making the wood very dense and beautifully grained.

For centuries the wood from these pine forests were the primary source of construction material all single family houses and buildings in this country. The builders of log cabins in the deep South often used longleaf heart pine logs for the lower tiers because not only is heart pine resistant to decay, it is also termite proof.

Not until the 1930’s when the few remaining acres were protected and forest management techniques were instituted was the destruction of this species of Pine tree halted.

To replace the destroyed forests, fast growing Loblolly Pine was introduced to reforest for commercial harvesting in order to provide building materials. While fast growing, it produces a much inferior wood that is more susceptible to destruction by fire.

Never again will the gorgeous, hardy Long Leaf pine be available for building material. The old growth forests, that produced these towering Pine trees which were 175 feet tall and 125 inches in width, are lost and gone forever from the face of the earth.

Antique Long Leaf pine wood is still available but the scarcity continues to increase because the rich character, beautiful grain and irreplaceable quality of this lost timber is being destroyed and thrown into land fills every day. All day, every day, bulldozers level these historic treasures originally harvested from the ancient Old Growth Forests.

Like the Pine, Oak flooring was cut from these same old growth forests. The Oak wood used primarily from the turn of the last century until the middle of the century was cut from trees that were a hundred to three hundred years old, and grew in Old Growth forest settings. With less light and moisture, they grew slowly and produced wood of great density and incomparable beauty.

Soon, there will be no more of this antique wood available, and like the forests from which this fabulous wood originated, it will all be destroyed. For now, this gorgeous Oak flooring of unparalleled quality, which will never be replicated, is made available through our recycling process.

Saved from demolition, this antique Pine and Oak is being recycled and given New Life. With each act of preservation, future generations will be able to admire the quality, beauty and value of this distinctive Old Growth forest product.

Our Long Leaf Pine flooring is manufactured locally, using structural building materials from the turn of last century to the early mid century. Each board is cut and then re-milled into tongue & groove flooring of various widths. Our recycled Oak flooring is the original flooring harvested from ancient Oak trees and installed during this same period, generations ago.

The preservation of these materials not only recognizes the quality of the wood itself, but also shows respect for the original Old Growth Forest source of this wood. All, while enjoying unprecedented beauty, quality and value.

In this way, we decrease the demand for additional harvesting of our forests, while adhering to the growing call for “Green” building. By recycling, re-using and reducing consumption we provide good stewardship of our resources. And, by doing so, not only do we as manufacturers, but each end user as well, helps remove additional stress to the environment and contributes to the protection of it for future generations.