With the modern world becoming more and more conscious of its impact on the environment each year, it’s now considered almost an obligation to ensure your home does its bit to stay ‘green’ (and quite right too).  However, while you understand the importance of making your own compost and working diligently to separate your rubbish into recycling bins, you may be surprised at how much of an impact your floor covering can have on your carbon footprint.

One of the best ways to ensure your flooring is doing its bit for the environment is to check that the company who sells it to you is certified and works in association with the Forest Stewardship Council (the FSC), whose job it is to make sure that the wood is being sourced from sustainable forests.  They also ensure that the companies they work with are being environmentally responsible in a general sense.  All companies that work with the FSC will display their logo, so if the logo is absent, request confirmation from the seller that they are endorsed.  If they aren’t, then go to a firm that is!

It achieves chain of custody certification.  C.O.C certification is another importation piece of accreditation that is also provided by the FSC.  Essentially, C.O.C is the route taken by raw materials (in this case timber) from their natural source to the final sale to the user.  In order to be fully C.O.C certified then every step of this journey has to be carried out by individually certified companies, and if a single link is considered ‘broken’, then the whole process becomes void.  Essentially, you will know that if you purchase C.O.C wood that every step of the process has been carried out in order to not damage the environment.

The supplier themselves care.  Whilst C.O.C and FSC certification are important, you can also get a good insight into how environmentally friendly the wood you’ve purchased is by having a look at the company you’ve bought from.  Any seller that cares about being green will usually make it apparent on their website (or on their company literature) by noting the extra things they do to make a positive environmental contribution.  Some common things include working to cut down their in-house wastage, using recycled packaging materials (this can make a big difference when the company is constantly packing goods) and trying to reduce petrol usage in their delivery fleet.  If both you and your company make the effort, your wooden flooring will really be making a difference.

Finally, it’s important that you use environmentally friendly products in order to keep that timber maintained – you’d be surprised how much of a difference this can make over twenty years of cleaning, waxing and polishing a floor!  A good way to ensure the cleaning and maintenance products you use are doing their bit is to check out the products whenever you go shopping: because being green is largely considered a necessary, most products will go out of the way to display the fact that they’re helping, usually in the form of their own certification.  Essentially, if the product doesn’t have any badges advertising their ethical approach to the environment, the chances are they don’t have one!

James Harman works as a customer consultant for online flooring retailer Green Apple Flooring, which supplies hardwood, engineered and laminate floors for all living spaces.