High Point, N.C. – Bassett Furniture's Newton, N.C., upholstery plant has completed EFEC registration, the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) announces.

EFEC – or "Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture" – is a voluntary environmental management program created for the residential furniture industry by AHFA. To achieve registration, companies must:

• Improve management of resources and raw materials;
• Reduce energy and water consumption; and,
• Reduce waste disposal and associated costs.

As part of the EFEC program, Bassett set a goal of reducing total energy costs by 4 percent by July 2010. However, the energy-saving policies identified as part of the EFEC implementation have already resulted in an 8 percent savings. The plant is also realizing savings in natural gas consumption through the consolidation of two product wrapping areas.

New recycling efforts have reduced landfill waste by approximately 50 percent. Prior to initiating the recycling measures, the plant generated about 70 tons of waste per month.

"Through EFEC we are able to analyze and better understand the environmental impact of our processes on our community," says Maegan Hubbard, Bassett's project manager for store development. Hubbard, an accredited professional in the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED), is heading up EFEC implementation for Bassett. In addition to the upholstery plant in Newton, Bassett operates a wood assembly plant in Martinsville, Va., which is currently working on EFEC registration, as is the corporate headquarters in Bassett, Va.

"We want to go beyond simply complying with environmental legislation and regulation," Hubbard adds. "We want to become leading supporters in our community and among our furniture manufacturer peers."

Bassett is the sixth leading manufacturer to achieve EFEC registration for some or all of its domestic manufacturing facilities this year. Others include Fairfield Chair, La-Z-Boy Residential, Flexsteel (including DMI), Hooker (including Bradington Young and Sam Moore), along with Century.

Altogether, this comprehensive environmental program – which calls on participants to make continual improvements in order to retain their registration – has been implemented at 26 different furniture manufacturing locations in 2009.