When you are furnishing your home you are probably thinking of matching materials, colours and styles to create the atmosphere you want, but you can also give consideration to environmental and ethical factors.

The areas where careful choices can make the biggest environment differences are:

We have all had significant exposure to BFRs, brominated flame retardants, which are used to treat electronic equipment (including computers), foam furnishings, curtains, chair covers, and clothes as a result of legislation passed some 20 years ago.

BFRs are long-lasting chemicals which are suspected to have hormonal and developmental effects on the body. Long term effects are not known, but some products have already been banned. Some BFRs are known to be extremely dangerous in aquatic environments.

Avoid petroleum distillates (possibly carcinogenic), and products containing nitrobenzene (highly toxic).

How you dress yourself and how you dress your home is probably very important to you. Here’s a few more things to think about:

Buying: when you buy clothes and furnishings, think about their sources, who made them, who takes the profit, the materials they are made from, and what you can do with them when you’ve finished with them.

Cleaning: once you’ve bought clothes or furnishings, think about how you are going to look after them, what products are you going to use to keep them clean, how much energy will you use to look after them.

What are they doing to you: many clothes and furnishings contain chemicals: from their manufacture, as raw materials, as additives or treatments.

The Furniture Re-use Network (FRN) is a national body which supports re-use organisations throughout the UK. They have a map of re-use charities.