Blå Station only use high quality materials that are recyclable and renewable whenever possible.
Many components in our furniture are based on a modular concept, which means that a component is used in several different models and is replaceable. This lengthens the lifecycle of each product by facilitating replacement of broken parts and enabling the customer to change the appearance of the furniture by fitting a different coloured component, for example.
Wood
Much of Blå Station’s furniture contains solid wood or moulded wood veneer. We avoid MDF board and particleboard for quality and environmental reasons. We mainly use wood – usually birch – from Scandinavia and Finland. Blå Station does not produce any furniture using tropical woods or other woods from endangered forests. We try to influence our suppliers to buy FSC certified wood raw materials as much as possible, which promotes environmentally sound and economically robust forestry. Our wood is reusable and can be recycled to make new products or generate energy.
Wood is a living, natural material, which means that it is affected by the surrounding climate. Indoor furniture made of wood should always be kept in heated and dry premises to avoid crack formation and warping.
Metals
A lot of Blå Station’s furniture includes metal components. We use quality structural steel, stainless steel and aluminium. All the metal used in our furniture is recyclable.
Steel, which is one of the most common structural materials, is an alloy of iron and will rust if protective surface treatment is not applied.
Aluminium is an element and the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust. Large amounts of energy are required to extract aluminium from bauxite. We therefore only use aluminium that can be recycled and reused in a virtually endless cycle. The manufacture of recycled material that is melted down requires only 5 per cent of the energy used to make new aluminium. Aluminium is a very lightweight metal and thus reduces the amount of energy required to transport it. Blå Station uses anodised aluminium, which provides more protection against corrosion, better durability and a superior surface.
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron with a high chromium content and is characterised by its good corrosion resistance.
Plastics
The feet on our furniture are made of plastic. They protect flooring and make it easier to move the furniture, for example when cleaning. The feet on some of our chairs also enable you to stack the chairs without damaging them.
The plastic feet comply with European Directive RoHS 2002/95/EC regarding addition of lead, cadmium, mercury, chlorinated and brominated halogenated flame retardants, chloroparaffins, phthalates and hexavalent chromium compounds. The plastic components in our furniture can be recycled to make new products or generate energy.
Filling Materials
Blå Station uses moulded polyurethane or polyether foam in upholstered furniture. This type of foam retains its shape and meets strict environmental requirements. The filling materials used in our furniture can be recycled to make new products or generate energy.
Textiles
Blå Station uses a wide variety of furnishing fabrics, of which about a quarter carry the Swan label, which is the Nordic Ecolabel. Others are Öko-Tex certified (stating they have been tested for harmful substances) or marked Bra Miljöval, which means good environmental choice and is the ecolabel of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. For more information about different fabrics, please visit the relevant fabric supplier’s website.
Leather
We use vegetable tanned leather from Tärnsjö Tannery. "The tiny scratches and scars on leather are the hallmarks of its natural origin and proof that the animal has enjoyed a fair measure of freedom in its lifetime." – Börge Lindau
Packaging Materials
Blå Station is affiliated to REPA, the service organisation for the Swedish packaging collection and recycling system. Our affiliation means that we comply with the stipulations of the Swedish Ordinance on Producers’ Responsibility for Packaging. All our packaging is eco-friendly and we always reuse corrugated cardboard if possible and pack our products as optimally as we can. We mainly use corrugated cardboard as packaging, but also Cell-Air (foam), stretch film and AirCap (bubble packaging). Our packaging materials are recyclable and can be disposed of at recycling facilities for plastic and cardboard after furniture deliveries.
