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I'm just wondering about the formaldehyde content in the kitchen cabinets.
Since the backs and sides are made of particleboard, it's possible that the content is pretty high.
There is probably some way to find this out, but all that the catalogue says is that they "constantly strive to improve...etc".
Can somebody help?
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Last edited by Susan; Aug 16th, 07 at 9:41 pm.
Reason: Fixed the link
I've been spouting the "Ikea adheres to E1 standards" for awhile now, but I noticed something on their website -- the Hemnes chest IKEA | Storage furniture | Chests of drawers | HEMNES specifically states in the description that it adheres to E1, but I can't find this statement anywhere else on the website. Why would Ikea only put this statement out for one product, and specifically not their kitchen cabinets? Anyone else find this weird?
Dang it, I'm so tired of supporting this company and having them flake out in such an obvious way! I feel like an Ikea ambassador in my neighborhood, spouting the greenness, but they have to be more up front about it, more consistent about it, and more everything about it! How do we get this through to them???
You could start an open letter to IKEA - we'd be happy to stick it to the top of the News and Annoucements forum and you could ask for signatures of others who agree.
I can assure you that regardless of what their site says, they keep to those environmental standards strictly.
Sorry for my outburst. I recently had a cousin visiting, and her husband was skeptical about the greenness of our renovation. I mentioned Ikea cabinets, and while his wife was oohing and ahhing, he went online and challenged me to find the E1 statement specific to cabinets. When I couldn't immediately find it specifically for kitchen cabinets, he took the floor on the gullibility of the public, me in particular, and how "green building" was a myth to boost flagging house sales.
Needless to say, I don't believe him, but I wish Ikea were more up front and specific about their policies. I'll think about the open letter, great suggestion!
Print out the Environmental standards linked above and mail it to him. They apply to ALL IKEA products, and it's no joke. IKEA has also adapted green building practices in their new stores - check out IKEA Builds a Green Superstore and Uber-Efficient IKEA Has More In Store. The second article also gives an explanation for the quietness with which IKEA approaches their environmental campaigns.
Quote:
"We would present it this way: A part of Swedish culture is to be humble, and that’s also part of our culture -- not putting ourselves on a pedestal or patting ourselves on the back," says corporate social responsibility manager John Zurcher. "But we have also recently realized that many companies are much more transparent and visible about what they do, and we need to be more visible too. In the U.S., we have had a lot of discussion about the fact that in an IKEA store you really don’t get any communication about what we are doing."
You'll also note that children's products are held to a higher standard ... and this amidst Mattel's major recalls because toys that contain lead are being imported and sold in this country.
May be this will help too:
"Formaldehyde occurs naturally in wood and fruit. Formaldehyde gas is present at low levels in most indoor environments due to its presence in many consumer products, including adhesives, paints, particle board, plywood, furniture, fabrics, and carpeting. In homes with significant amounts of new pressed wood products, levels can be greater than 0.3 ppm.
For anyone with IKEA products in their home, the preceding sentence may cause alarm. Fear not. In 1986, IKEA began following the world's strictest requirements for formaldehyde in wood based materials, the German E1-Norm. Finnish regulations, again the world's toughest standards, are applied to IKEA textiles."
The main three reasons we chose IKEA cabs were price, durability, and formaldehyde levels (or lack thereof). It would be nice to have some documentation, though.
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Formaldehyde in Akurum cabinets???
