Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Comfort Research Looks for Zero-Waste Certification in '15
November 14,
2014 by in Green, Industry 
Comfort Research, a Grand Rapids, Mi.-based manufacturer of furniture and soft seating has achieved its "Zero Landfill" sustainability goal for 2014.
This accomplishment is a direct effect of diligent recycling efforts, lunchroom and bathroom composting programs and a reduction of waste program in which materials are sent to an incinerator to be converted into electricity.
So far because of Comfort Research’s sustainability efforts, 99.42 tons of material have been saved from the landfill; and 52,195.50 KWH of electricity created from unrecyclable materials at the Grand Rapids facility alone.
The company's second facility in Lewisburg, Tenn., has recently begun the Zero Landfill Program as well.
Beyond the efforts to divert materials away from the landfill, Comfort Research continues to grow its recycling effort, demonstrated by a 2013 sustainability inquiry that showed total material recycled as 254 tons of materials.
Comfort Research set a corporate wide goal this year to become certified as a "Zero Waste" organization by the end of 2015. These efforts will
require the manufacturer to reduce non-recycled materials to less than 3 percent of material, which would take it down from the previously reported 28 percent of non-recycled waste in 2013.
As of August 2014, Comfort Research had achieved a reduction of non-recycled materials to just above 19 percent.
While great efforts have been accomplished thus far, the team at Comfort Research developed a partnership with Holland, Mi.-based Chef Container, LLC in May of 2014 to assist Comfort Research in gaining the last few steps on the journey to Zero Waste.