By Angela Diana, Alliance Intern from Cornell University ‘28
On September 3, we had a table at the Eco Experience Building of the Minnesota State Fair. As an organization, the Alliance for Sustainability tries to practice what we preach, and that means we want sustainable sourcing in everything we use, including the table covering.
When I was given the assignment for finding one, I was warned it would be Mission Impossible. The Alliance had been debating various types of table covering options for years to embody as much sustainability as possible with reasonable costs.
Exploring Sustainability Options in Table Coverings
So here goes Mission Impossible. Wouldn’t it be nice to just go to your favorite big box store and be done with the whole process in ten minutes? I wish sustainability was that simple. I hope our journey can help you understand some of the considerations for making any kind of purchase and optimize as many aspects as possible – potentially saving you money and time.
There’s no question that it’s extremely difficult to find a reasonably priced, professional-looking, ready-made sustainable table covering. Let’s start with the fabric.
Organic Cotton – Originally, we wanted to use organic cotton to both support organic farmers and educate people about the importance of buying organic. We also liked its look and feel, even though it has a tendency to wrinkle and requires significant amounts of water to grow and process. Unfortunately, organic cotton is expensive, and getting the amount we wanted for a table covering would be around $500, which is more than the $250 we hoped to spend. And that doesn’t even include the cost to incorporate our logo. Our Communications Coordinator Amy Durr said she’d be willing to construct a patch if we could get a color logo printed on fabric.
Recycled Cotton – We could not find any pre-made 100% recycled cotton tablecloths, although we did find there are “sustainably made cotton tablecloths” with 50% upcycled materials at quite reasonable prices. The challenge is 50% is made from conventional, highly-pesticided cotton and we don’t know what’s in the “upcycled material.” And we could not find the colors we sought.
Organic Linen – We explored possibilities for organic linen, which is made from flax. It uses far less water and looks even better than cotton, but is even more expensive and wrinklier.
Organic Bamboo – We could not find any organic bamboo table coverings. The options for organic bamboo woven fabric were limited in the colors and weights we wanted, even though the price for the fabric was quite reasonable. Plus, we would have been required to cut and sew fabric in addition to putting on our logo.
Recycled Polyester – Recycled polyester is better for the planet than conventional virgin polyester, but it is not a truly sustainable or zero-impact material. It uses 30% to 59% less energy than virgin polyester and cuts greenhouse gas emissions significantly, while diverting plastic waste (primarily single-use plastic bottles) away from landfills and oceans, giving that plastic a second life. It also decreases the immediate demand for new petroleum and fossil-derived raw materials.
At the same time, there are drawbacks. Recycled polyester can shed more microfibers during washing than virgin polyester and turning bottles into fabric removes it from a closed-loop bottle recycling system. Also, it’s not biodegradable and takes hundreds of years to break down in a landfill.
Given these pros and cons, our feeling is it should only be considered an option for things that will remain in use for a very long time, which this tablecloth would be. Fortunately, there are numerous companies offering recycled polyester table coverings that offer full service with the colors and incorporation of a logo at reasonable prices with short turn-around times.
In addition to the fabric choice, there are questions that have to be answered about whether the dyes used are toxic or environmentally friendly. Furthermore, ideally we’d be able to find out about treatment of labor and health and safety concerns in manufacturing.
Our Choice
The answer for us ended up being a ready-made recycled polyester table covering. None of us loved the choice, but feel it was the best option considering the available information and products. The choice actually worked well and was easy to manage, giving us a wonderful look.
We hope there will be better options in the future that will fully embrace some combination of organic or reused and openly address a host of issues around labor and environmental impacts.
My Experience
I was asked to join this project following three years of exploration by the staff. I quickly understood why they labeled it Mission Impossible.
I felt like the exploration encapsulated the primary struggle of practicing sustainability in purchasing a particular product. Often, the choices are not so clear and even confusing.
The world is made for mass-production. Consumers are more and more distanced from where items are sourced. There are brands who seek to pay their workers a living wage and use sustainable practices in their own businesses. However, complex supply chains can make it difficult to know about the labor and environmental impacts from far away suppliers.
Ideally, all companies would need to have full disclosure of the practices being used throughout their supply chain. There are independent third-party certifiers (such as Fair Trade) that seek to provide such assurances, but it often gets difficult to truly know for sure in some countries. It also would be helpful if our government actually passed regulatory requirements, as they do when it comes to some drugs and meat production.
Making a sustainable choice for something as simple as a table covering can quickly spiral into weeks of research. In our Sustainability Tips, we try to share both the considerations and a range of products that we feel optimize as many parameters of sustainability as possible.
I hope this story can make it easier for you to make decisions and not succumb to the mainstream push for cheap, mass-produced items without regard for their sustainability impacts. You can do it for yourself, but it helps to have a village. Together, we can build a better world.