Sustainability
Our Beliefs about Sustainability
- Sustainability is a lifestyle choice, not a passing trend.
- Clean Air is a universal right for everyone.
- Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it’s common sense..
- We believe Sustainability is calculated well beyond the factory, considering all environmental impacts, no matter how small.
Giving Back
Every dollar spent at WD Walls helps give back to the environment by planting trees, offsetting carbon, and restoring natural habitat through Ecologi. Learn more.
Certified Woods
We have been FSC certified (Forest Stewardship Council) since 2007 and have held our own Chain of Custody since then. When we cannot find FSC certified wood, we opt for PEFC certified woods. PEFC is a similar standard as FSC that is mainly used in Europe and more than satisfies our need for transparency on the products we manufacture.
VOC's
All of our products are GREENGUARD Gold Certified for indoor air quality. We mainly use two types of finishes. All our solid wood products get a commercially durable, plant based hard oil wax as a finish. This type of finish was pioneered in Europe decades ago and is mainly used for flooring, so you can be sure it will be durable enough for your walls. The second type of finish we use is UV. This type of finish uses ultraviolet light to cure a finish on the wood in seconds, all without VOC's.
Construction
Since most of our products are for use on walls, they receive minimal wear and don't need to be thick. Thus we deliberately make our products as thin as possible while still being stable and installable using standard construction techniques. Thinner, light weight products weigh less and are easier to ship, resulting in fewer CO2 emissions. As a side bonus, having a thinner product makes it less laborious to install and it can be used in areas that were previously off limits due to weight, such as ceilings. Our flooring options have a more durable life span due to the increased wear they will endure.
Transportation
Every shipment we book automatically gets carbon credits to offset the emissions caused by the movement of our products. The amount of credits is calculated from the total weight of the product, and miles transported. We have also carefully curated our line of products to fit on a standard pallet so that every shipment can be moved by common carrier. This may seem like a small detail, but by combining smaller shipments, a trucking company can be more efficient in the movement of its cargo; again, reducing the amount of emissions.
Lifetime Use
When considering how we manufacture our products, we look at the average life of a product in the commercial environment. Typically, we see the average lifespan of similar products lasting between 9-15 years before they are replaced. We deliberately engineer the construction of our products to match this life span. There is no need to manufacture “products that last a lifetime” when in reality these products will never see a lifetimes amount of use. This allows us to better manage our ecological footprint and only use the resources as necessary.