In the last post I talked about how, even if the materials are recycled, the product is not necessarily “green” if, for instance, it sucks down an immense amount of energy from conventional oil/coal/other environmentally disastrous energy technology. Utilizing alternative energy sources like solar, wind or geothermal power to process the materials and manufacture product would help maintain a robust “green” label for a product.

Another factor in deciding what’s actually “green” is what I’ve come to think of as the “secret ingredient” or “magic wand” that transforms recycled waste into new useful product.

As I mentioned before, MDF is a marvelous building material for certain applications because of its stability, strength and the ease with which it can be machined.

So what do they add to shredded, pulped wood fiber to make it into an ultra durable building material? What’s the binder? What makes it work?

The dirty secret of MDF production has been the use of urea and formaldehyde as binders. Both are carcinogenic, and each have additional nasty health side effects.

When MDF is cut, shaped or sanded, the resulting dust is extremely fine and easily absorbed/inhaled deeply. If the dust is saturated with toxins, imagine how much more of a hazard working with MDF poses. I know from years of furniture making that MDF dust is light, fluffy and easy to snort up your nose even when wearing masks or respirators because it hangs around your hair, clothes, etc.

At any rate, you see my point about researching the technologies behind new wonder products for the green design market, because there might be some scary toxin(s) hidden in the manufacturing process.

And if you think it doesn’t matter if you don’t work with it, think again. The engineered wood industry (and a lot of other people) are all coming to grips with the notion of interior air quality and “emissions” from chemicals (used in the manufacturing process) into the air (as materials break down) over time.

This means chemicals, some of them known (at least in California) to cause cancer, regularly release into the air you breathe inside your home, hotel room or favorite restaurant from your chair, cabinet or crown moulding–

rembering that the ability to cheaply machine MDF into massive decorative architectural shapes, mouldings, baseboards, raised panel doors, wall panels, and anything else that designers can think of means that MDF is everywhere around us, especially in the hospitality industry.

A real “green” building solution to this dilemma would be to make MDF without the cancerous agents as binders and I am pleased to report that the US has (at least) two companies providing real solutions in this niche– I will write about them in the next design post, along with another engineered wood company who is on to the same thing.

Because the urea/formaldehyde issue affects more than just MDF, but also the plywood, oriented strand board, particle board (hello Ikea) and engineered wood flooring (Pergo, Tundra and the like) areas of the market and ultimately the entire spectrum of home/hospitality design & furnishings based businesses.

I believe there are similar issues with uphosltery fabrics and fillers, but its beyond my scope here, which begins and ends as a picture frame maker. Why do we care about all this MDF/emmissions/formaldehyde talk?

There’s not much wood in a picture frame anyway.

There are two reasons why we at The Frame Maker care about the “green” issues being discussed here.

1. We care about our own health and yours.

2. If the “wood” in your frame is slowly polluting the atmosphere outside the frame, what do you think is happening inside the frame?

Framers have been sealing regular wood frames for decades to prevent the migration of acids/tannins from the wood of the frame into the art package, now we have to consider that the use of composite materials for picture frames may expose the art to harmful substances as well as art handlers.