ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT

The $11 billion contract furniture industry has a significant impact on the environment. With proper measures in place and responsible management, this impact can be appropriately minimized. HBF is committed to follow the path toward environmental sustainability. We recognize the potential impact of our products and processes, and the importance of using available resources intelligently. We are committed to being responsible global citizens in our association with customers, employees and the community in which we work and live. HBF regularly reviews our manufacturing and office processes and material usages to support this philosophy. The company has pledged its research and development capabilities to investigate new materials and environmentally conscious manufacturing processes to secure ecologically responsible alternatives to traditional methods. HBF has taken steps to improve upon processes it can control and contributes to wider issues it can influence. HBF has a made a decision to reduce the environmental impact of its products in the workplace environment and the community as a whole.

PROCESSES

HBF products are developed to be environmentally neutral in their intended use and rigorously tested to ensure they surpass industry durability standards. We build products that will have a long, useful life span; they are not designed to be disposable and replaced multiple times.

HBF LUMBER

HBF uses lumber sourced from woodlands in the Northern Appalachian and Alleghany mountains, 54% of which is located within a 500 mile radius of the manufacturing site. All lumber is harvested under strict government supervision, adhering to sound forestry practices. HBF consciously partners with vendors that adhere to environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable standards. Some HBF products are available with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified materials.

FSC CERTIFICATION

HBF has been granted Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain-of-Custody Certification (SW-COC-003305) by the SmartWood program of the Rainforest Alliance. This new certification agreement will allow HBF to offer FSC certified wood veneer or core on a project basis to maintain Chain-of-Custody for the design firm and client. FSC Chain-of-Custody certification tracks certified wood from the forest to final production to ensure that responsible forestry practices were maintained at every level and to preserve this natural resource for generations to come.

RENEWABLE RESOURCES

HBF strives to avoid the use of non-renewable resources; specifying raw materials with recycled content or which are recyclable. HBF offers bamboo plywood tops, a rapidly renewable material, on several conference and occasional table series.

METAL RESOURCES AND FINISHING

For most exposed metal components, HBF utilizes a powder coat finish or brushed/polished aluminum parts. Recycled plastic is ground into fine beads to provide the “powder” in all powder coating finishes. During application, any waste is recycled through the ventilation system and used again, thus preventing waste that traditionally would end up in land fills. As there are no harmful solvents used in the application process, powder coating does not pollute the air or water supply. Environcron® powder coating process has been incorporated for some products, coatings are manufactured to ISO and QS standards and all products are available in lead-free formulations. Decorative metals used in manufacturing are GreenGuard Indoor Air Quality Certified to ensure minimal impact on the indoor environment. Brushed aluminum and die cast aluminum components are 100% recyclable and contain between 42 and 48% recycled content.

POLY FOAM FOR UPHOLSTERY

All HBF upholstery products utilize poly foam that is chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) free. Independent testing confirmed the poly foam emits no VOC’s. Preserve® HR foam products have also been incorporated for specific products. Preserve® HR is a soy bio-based high-resilience foam with 6% bio-base content; fiber used on top of this foam is 50% recycled polyester.

SUSTAINABLE TEXTILES

HBF continually seeks new environmental products and processes that can be utilized in the creation of our award winning designs. Approximately 40% of HBF Textiles are part of our Environmental Initiatives Program and utilize Zeftron, Eco-Spun, Terratex® recycled yarns, Crypton® Green, bamboo yarns, recycled post-consumer polyester, lambswool, etc. Several HBF Textiles designs are Cradle-to-Cradle™ certified as a technical nutrient by MBDC. Wool yarns are employed in the construction of many fabrics within the HBF Textiles product offering. Wool is a superb natural, renewable and biodegradable fiber creating only biodegradable by-products during processing, including various cosmetic and pharmaceutical agents such as lanolin. Wool is inherently flame retardant, eliminating the need for further flame retardant chemical treatments.

We have moved toward using fewer chemicals overall and offering many of our textiles "loomstate" with no finishes. This allows us to apply a specific finish at the customer's request and, most importantly, we are not warehousing large amounts of chemicals. When a stain repellent finish is requested, we promote nano technology products as they use less chemicals (GreenshieldTM and Nano-TexR)

FABRIC FINISH PROCESSING

Wherever possible, finishing processes such as those employed in creating the luxurious hand of wool fabrics are achieved with natural agents such as water, steam and non-toxic soap. As a result, no measurable pollutants are released into the air or water. We continue to research textile mills that are reducing their carbon footprint by having MBDC silver certifications or ISO 14001 environmental compliance.

FINISHING EMISSIONS

Reformation of finishing materials has enabled HBF to reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants by approximately 65%. HBF has achieved “small source” status for air emissions as well as GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certification for the majority of its products.

DISPOSAL OF WOOD FINISHING WASTE AND WOOD WASTE

Liquid waste from our wood finishing process is sent offsite to be fuel blended and used by cement kilns. Solid waste is also sent offsite to generate electricity. Wood waste is ground into wood mulch to be reused, and sawdust is used as industrial boiler fuel by third parties.

RECYCLING OF SCRAP MATERIAL

HBF and HBF Textiles embrace recycling in our daily procedures. Fabric and leather short ends are not discarded but are incorporated into our sampling process. Packaging components, cardboard, Dacron, scrap steel and wood, florescent lights, office paper, aluminum and plastic containers are all recycled internally or by an outside source.

RECYCLED MATERIALS

HBF has transitioned from standard engineered panel materials and implemented Green-Blend wherever possible in its best selling lounge collections. Green-Blend panel material cores are produced with no added ureaformaldehyde and contribute towards LEED-CI Rapidly Renewable Materials points (MR Credit 6) and Recycled Content points (MR Credits 4.1 and 4.2)

• Green-Blend is SCS certified 100% pre-consumer recycled wood fiber panel material that has no urea-formaldehyde added during the manufacturing process. It combines low emission standards, certified recycled content and sustainable raw materials with the reliability of a proven industry track record of wood based panel material.

• Third party testing verifies Green-Blend formaldehyde emissions (0.00 – 0.001ppm) are no greater than levels occurring in ambient outdoor conditions. Green-Blend emissions compare favorably with agri-fiber products and wood based composite panels using MDI resin.

• Green-Blend is a superior alternative for all panel material applications that require a tighter emission control and contribute heavily towards achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits for Materials and Resources.

• Recycled Content MR 4.1 and MR 4.2, Regional Materials MR 5.1 and MR 5.2, Environmental Quality EQ 4.4 The transition to Green-Blend is significant and provides a much larger impact toward the attainment of LEED credits when considering HBF seating on LEED related projects. In some cases, the dollar contribution toward credit attainment is increased by more than 440% for Recycled Content points (MR Credits 4.1 and 4.2) HBF has included the post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled content of all seating and occasional table products in the online price list.

GREENGUARD INDOOR AIR QUALITY CERTIFICATION

All HBF seating products have attained GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certification. A number of occasional tables have also attained GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certification. GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) established performance based standards to define goods with low chemical and particle emissions for use indoors, primarily building materials, interior furnishings, furniture, cleaning and maintenance products, electronic equipment, and personal care products. The standard establishes certification procedures including test methods, allowable emissions levels, product sample collection and handling, testing type and frequency, and program application processes and acceptance. GREENGUARD certification is a valuable tool for architects, designers, product specifiers, and purchasing organizations that choose to locate, specify, and purchase low-emitting products for indoor environments. Low VOC is recognized as a key attribute of “green” building materials in the indoor environment. Indoor air quality has been shown to support productivity, satisfaction, and well-being in indoor spaces such as healthcare, education, and other commercial spaces. For more information regarding the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute please visit www.greenguard.org.

ECOSCORECARD

The HBF ecoScorecard is an online tool available for consumers to identify environmentally sensitive products. The calculator is also a highly useful vehicle to calculate the contribution of HBF products towards the attainment of LEED credits. The HBF ecoScorecard offers the following benefits: • Automated assistance with LEED documentation • Customized review and comparison of multiple products • Ability to print, download and/or email LEED Specification Sheets and analysis information for all products that contribute to the rating system • Reduced time and cost associated with LEED research and documentation • Accurate and straightforward information of product attributes and LEED contribution • Assists specifiers in demonstrating how HBF products apply to real-world, high performance green building needs For more information regarding HBF’s ecoScorecard, please visit http://hbf.ecoscorecard.com.