GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 12, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Steelcase Inc. (NYSE:SCS), the global leader in the office furniture industry, today announced that all seventeen of its active solid colors and seven wood grain 3mm and 1mm edge bands are PVC-free on twelve of its systems furniture product lines. The product lines where PVC-free edge banding is now standard include: c:scape®, media:scape®, Universal Worksurfaces (including knife-edge tops), Universal Storage, Duo™, i2i® tablet arm chairs, Elective Elements® 6, Details® AdjusTables, Kick®, Currency®, Groupwork®, Jenny® tables and tablet arm chairs. Additionally, Steelcase offers PVC-free power solutions for its Answer®, Montage®, Tour™, EE6 and c:scape® products.
Steelcase has offered PVC-free edge banding internationally in Europe since 1995 and leads its industry with this offering in North America.
"In November 2008 we announced the availability of the first PVC-free power components as standard for our Answer® and Montage® furniture systems," said Jeff Bradley, category product manager, Steelcase. "Now, we are pleased to offer PVC-free edge banding as standard on this large collection of products."
In recent years, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has become a source of global environmental concern. A growing body of scientific evidence points to the potential long-term human and environmental health dangers of this material. This is why the United States Environmental Protection Agency has designated PVC as a group A human carcinogen.
"In 2006, we put a stake in the ground by establishing an aggressive goal to eliminate PVC from our products," said Angela Nahikian, director, global environmental sustainability for Steelcase Inc. "We have more work ahead of us, but are excited to be making such significant and tangible progress in eliminating this material from our product offering."
Steelcase is using a proprietary polyolefin blend material to replace PVC in its worksurface edge banding. This material is flexible enough to manufacture all the shapes in the Steelcase worksurface portfolio -- including curvilinear shapes, and shapes with small radius corners. Polyolefins have the highest potential for recycling. This material has also been approved by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) for use in Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM products.
For more information, visit our website to see Steelcase's commitment to eliminating PVC.
About Steelcase Inc.
Steelcase Inc. helps create great experiences -- wherever work happens. Our brands offer a comprehensive portfolio of workplace furnishings, products and services, inspired by nearly 100 years of insight gained serving the world's leading organizations. We are globally accessible through a network of channels, including over 650 dealers. We design for social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Steelcase is a global, publicly traded company leading our industry with fiscal 2010 revenue of approximately $2.3 billion.
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