Design Life-Cycle
assess.design.(don't)consume
Patrick Nguyen
04 June 2024
DES 40A
Professor Cogdell
Gaming Chair: Raw Materials
Gaming chairs have become an essential piece of equipment for avid gamers and professionals who spend long hours seated at a desk. These chairs are designed to provide comfort, support, and enhance the gaming experience by incorporating ergonomic features that traditional office chairs often lack. However, the comfort and functionality of these chairs are deeply rooted in the raw materials used in their production. In 2006, after three years of rigorous research, development, and numerous tests, DXRacer made history by introducing the Formula Series, the world's inaugural gaming chair. This groundbreaking achievement not only signaled a significant milestone in the gaming industry but also cemented gaming chairs' legendary status.
Gaming chairs are mostly made of plastic, metal, and leather (What Kind of Materials Are Used in Gaming Chairs?, Gtracer). The big debate in the production of gaming chairs is the choice of using either real leather or polyurethane leather, which is an artificial leather made of thermoplastic polymer used for making furniture or shoes. The main reasons for using PU leather over real leather are the cheaper production cost and the fact that PU leather is vegan. Additionally, PU leather is easier to clean and maintain, making it a practical choice for many users. However, real leather is often favored for its superior durability, breathability, and luxurious feel. The decision between these materials ultimately depends on consumer priorities, such as budget, ethical considerations, and the desired longevity of the chair.
With the recent rise in popularity of gaming chairs, it is important to understand the raw materials that go into their production. Shedding light on the raw materials that go into the production process will allow consumers to make informed choices about their purchases, based on a variety of factors such as durability, comfort, and health benefits. (Gaming Chair Guide - What You Need to Know before Buying, Dergham et al.). Additionally, understanding the materials used can highlight environmental impacts, prompting consumers to consider eco-friendly options, and can spur innovations toward more sustainable and ergonomic designs in the industry, resulting in an increase of quality and comfort for the consumer.
The debate between using polyurethane (PU) leather and real leather in gaming chair production hinges on factors such as cost, ethical considerations, and material characteristics, prompting customers to think carefully about the advantages and disadvantages of each option to fit their needs. Taylor Kiley discusses how PU leather is cheaper to manufacture, easier to clean, and is better for sustainability purposes, at the same time, it isn’t as breathable and can wear and crack over time, meaning it doesn’t last as long as real leather. (What Is PU Leather? Pros and Cons for a Leather Alternative, Kiley). From a sustainability standpoint, PU leather holds an advantage over real leather, as it is a vegan friendly option that’s made out of a thermoplastic polymer used for making furniture or shoes. PU leather’s drawbacks are also worth taking into consideration, as its lack of breathability can result in discomfort during prolonged use, especially in warmer clients. Moreover, it’s susceptible to wear and cracking over time, diminishing its longevity and durability compared to real leather. Consumers choose PU leather due to its price point and ease of maintenance, but it is worth nothing that real leather has its advantages, including its exceptional durability and aesthetic appeal. As consumers navigate the choice between polyurethane (PU) leather and real leather for their gaming chairs, another crucial component to consider is the type of foam and plastic used in the chair's construction.
The selection of foam and plastic materials in gaming chair construction is an important factor in determining the chair’s comfort, support, and overall ergonomic design. Manufactures meticulously consider factors such as density, firmness, and resilience when choosing foam, as these qualities directly contribute to back support and user comfort. Foam is typically composed of polymers, and the most common types of polymers used in foam production are polyurethane foam, polystyrene foam, and polyethylene foam (Klempner, Daniel et al.) The rationale behind choosing a type of foam in the production of gaming chairs is a complex process, as there are many considerations to take such as comfort, durability, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact. Polyurethane foam is the one that is most used, as it offers a versatile solution with customizable densities and firmness levels, providing exceptional comfort and support. Polystyrene foam’s lightweight nature and excellent thermal insulation properties makes it an ideal choice for the packaging of gaming chairs, ensuring protection during shipping. Polyethylene foam’s flexibility and shock absorption enhances the ergonomic design of gaming chairs, offering users superior comfort and protection during extended gaming sessions. Plastic also plays a vital role in the design of a gaming chair, contributing to many components including the base, armrests, backrest frame, and gas lift cylinders. (Gaming Chair, Wu) Plastic is a synthetic material, and similarly to foam, it is made of polymers. These polymers undergo a process called polymerization, where small molecules called monomers are chemically bonded together to form the plastic material. (Plastic (2007), Campos, Christian). A major use for plastic in a gaming chair would be for gas lift cylinders, which are responsible for height adjustment. It’s a cylindrical tube that is “...filled with compressed gas and a piston that moves up and down inside the tube (Office Chair Cylinder- Everything You Need To Know, Vaseat)”. These cylinders utilize compressed gas, typically nitrogen, to raise and lower the chair’s seat, allowing users to customize the chair’s height to their preference. Though it is important to recognize the considerations of foam and plastic in gaming chair construction, we should also direct our attention towards the materials used for smaller but vital components, such as brass and steel, which are used in the production of bolts and screws for assembling these chairs.
The utilization of brass and steel in the production of bolts and screws for gaming chairs is important, as these materials not only ensure structural integrity and durability but also contribute to the chair's stability and overall longevity. Selecting high-quality materials such as brass and steel enhances the longevity of gaming chairs. Steel and brass are often chosen over different metals for bolts and screws due to their strength and durability, as well their machinability. They are both alloys, switch are homogenous mixtures of two or more elements, with at least one of which being a metal, resulting in a substance with properties distinct from the elements that went into the mixture. Steel is an alloy primarily composed of iron and carbon, while brass is an alloy composed of copper and zinc. (Materials Engineering and Technologies for Production and Processing VII, Radionov, Andrey A). For steel, iron ore is mined from deposits and then refined into iron through processes such as smelting. Afterwards, iron is converted into steel through the basic oxygen furnace (BOF), or electric arc furnace (EAF) process. This process involves melting iron along with other alloying elements such as carbon, manganese, and silicon to achieve the desired composition. Afterwards, it is cast into various shapes using molds. Brass go through a similar process, beginning with the mining and extraction of copper and zinc ores. The extracted copper and zinc are then smelted in a furnace to separate any impurities, and further refined to achieve the desired purity levels. They are then combined to create the brass alloy, and then cast into molds. Bolts and screws are crucial in the assembly process of gaming chairs, as they are essentially what holds the chair together. They are used to attach important components such as the base, armrests, backrest, and seat mechanism to the chair fasteners (The Ins and Outs of Screws and Fasteners, Levy, Robert). The size, type, and quality of bolts and screws used in gaming chairs contribute to the overall comfort, safety, and longevity of the chair.
In conclusion, the production of gaming chairs involves a careful consideration of various materials, mainly consisting of leather choice, foam and plastic, and brass and steel. Each component plays a crucial role in determining the chair's comfort, functionality, and overall quality.
Bibliography
Campos, Cristian. (2007) Plastic. English language ed. New York: Collins Design.
Dergham, Séverine. “Gaming Chair.” Gaming Chair Guide - What You Need to Know before Buying, LeetDesk, 17 Oct. 2022, www.leetdesk.com/blog/gaming-room/gaming-chair.
Kiley, Taylor. “What Is Pu Leather? Pros and Cons for a Leather Alternative.” BTOD, 29 Apr. 2024, www.btod.com/blog/what-is-pu-leather/.
Levy, Robert. “The Ins and Outs of Screws and Fasteners.” The Federal Group USA, 11 Mar. 2021, www.tfgusa.com/screws-and-fasteners/.
“Office Chair Cylinder- Everything You Need To Know.” Vaseat, 17 Nov. 2023, vaseat.com/office-chair-cylinder/.
What Kind of Materials Are Used in Gaming Chairs?, Gtracer, gtracer.com.ua/en/what-kind-of-materials-are-used-in-gaming-chairs. Accessed 3 May 2024.
Wu, Peng. Gaming Chair. 2022.Zafar, Fahmina. Polyurethane. Edited by Fahmina Zafar and Eram Sharmin, IntechOpen, 2012.
Rola Sabbagh
Professor Cogdell
DES 040A A08
5 June 2024
Gaming Chair Life Cycle Analysis: Embodied Energy
Gaming chairs have become more popular as PC video games and live streaming platforms continue to be on the rise. These chairs can be a way for gamers to know which of their peers and streamers are “legitimate and respectable” gamers, and they range in different colors to match each person’s aesthetics (Wikipedia). They are similar to office chairs but have a higher, stiffer back and a more flashy style than simple office furniture. Gaming chairs are built with polyurethane (PU) leather and foam wrapped around a steel skeleton and equipped with plastic armrests, wheels, and a wheelbase. While their energy output during use is not to the same extent as the electronics they sit in front of, their total life cycle comes close to it. Gaming chairs have a high embodied energy use when it comes to acquiring raw materials, manufacturing, distributing the product, recycling, and waste management.
The energy consumption of extracting the raw materials of a gaming chair is high enough due to iron ore mining but is then made worse with the petroleum needed to make polyurethane and polypropylene. According to data from TheWorldCounts, an organization created to spread awareness of environmental and consumer impacts, the mining industry is responsible for ten percent of energy use across the globe and iron ore is one of the top resources being extracted (“Mining Industry”). It uses up so much energy because it uses large and heavy machinery to get deep into the earth’s layers, which means more power (fossil fuels) is needed to keep them running. Since I wasn’t able to find the exact type of plastic used for most gaming chairs, I ended up analyzing the most commonly used plastic for office furniture, which is polypropylene (PP) plastic. The organic compounds that make up polyurethane (diisocyanates and polyols) and polypropylene (propylene) are procured from petroleum or crude oil, which also is extracted through invasive drilling into the earth. Similarly to the mining machines used for iron extraction, petroleum refineries require complex equipment powered by large power plants and are used to heat the oil at high temperatures (“Refining crude oil”). The raw material extractions of steel, PU leather and foam, and PP plastic are just the start of a process that becomes more energy intensive in the manufacturing of the product.
The manufacturing and processing of gaming chairs holds the highest amount of energy in its whole life cycle. Starting with its metal structure, steel is manufactured by combining iron with a form of coal that is heated up to a higher temperature and contains more carbon called coke. The coke gets burned in a blast furnace to then heat up the iron, resulting in a liquid iron called “pig iron” (Martalero). To turn this into steel, the pig iron goes through processing in another furnace called a basic oxygen furnace that passes oxygen through the metal to expel the carbon in it. These furnaces are more recently being powered by natural gases, but their main source of energy is even more coal in addition to the amount it takes to make steel itself. However, sustainable efforts are being made to lessen the environmental impacts made by gaming chair production and the steel industry in general. More gaming chair brands are committing to using recycled steel in their production processes, and the energy used to produce one tonne of steel has been reduced by sixty percent in the last sixty years (“Steel Industry”). The manufacturing processes of polypropylene and polyurethane also use a high quantity of fossil fuels, but it is crude oil rather than coal. For one kilogram of polypropylene, around 20 kilowatt-hours (more than half of which are oil fuels) are needed for production and a little over 11 gallons of water are used (Boustead 11, 13). The manufacturing of the actual gaming chairs takes place in industrial factories that require electricity and fossil fuels to run their machines. A popular gaming chair brand called SecretLab even uses heavy weight testing to assess the durability of their products, which requires a greater supply of steel equipment to be manufactured and uses up more energy to carry the weights. From the production of materials to the manufacturing of the gaming chairs specifically, great amounts of energy are being consumed that are most often non-renewable sources like fossil fuels.
The high embodied energy of a gaming chair’s life cycle doesn’t stop at its material extraction and manufacturing. The distribution and transportation process requires a lot of energy for cargo ships, delivery trucks, and packaging. Most gaming chair brands like Secretlab and AndaSeat manufacture their products in China or Singapore, with others manufacturing in Germany (Noblechairs) and the USA (DXRacer). Because many of these brands manufacture overseas and ship their products to their U.S.-based warehouses, a large portion of the energy used up in this section of the life cycle is from the pollutive cargo ships. A study analyzing the energy consumption and emissions of container ships traveling from the U.S. West Coast to East Asia found that one round trip took up to 1.75 gigawatt-hours; the most energy was used during transpacific crossing to East Asian ports and the least was the West Coast ports as they have tougher emissions regulations (Yeh Table 1). Once the chairs arrive at the warehouses, the next step to worry about is the packaging. Cardboard packaging is manufactured in industrial factories powered by electricity and fossil fuels, contributing further to the release of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) like carbon dioxide in the process (“Impact of Traditional Cardboard”). Luckily, we see a decline in the overall energy consumption of gaming chairs after this stage of the life cycle.
The energy that goes into the direct use, reuse, and maintenance of gaming chairs is virtually none at all—a big difference from the previous steps of the life cycle. The only energy needed to actually use a gaming chair is the power it takes a human to sit down and stand up, which is around 100 watts. They also don’t generate much energy in maintenance, as not much work is needed besides cleaning it or fixing a couple of screws by hand. However, if you choose to look at it from a macro perspective, gaming chairs can technically have a high energy consumption since their ergonomic and durable design is meant to allow consumers to sit in them for longer times. So while it might not have any energy outputs in direct use, it encourages the product user to use more electric energy from all the equipment in a gaming set-up like multiple monitors, speakers, a keyboard, and circuit boards. Regardless, it’s refreshing to see a much lower amount of energy consumption in this area of the life cycle compared to the industrial processes of extracting, manufacturing, and transporting.
Using recycled materials to manufacture gaming chairs and sorting the materials properly to recycle at the end of their use saves up a lot of energy. In acknowledgment of the high energy consumption and GHG emissions during their manufacturing, the steel industry uses recycled scrap metals and uses furnaces powered by natural gas, which is more energy efficient than coal, to make their steel. In fact, recycled scraps are used in more than half of our steel production, and this type of production can save up to seventy-four percent of energy compared to making steel from raw iron ore (Otis). A greater energy efficiency is also seen in PU foam production that uses recycled foam over newly produced ones. A study done by the Mattress Recycling Council found that the foam recycled from just one mattress was able to lessen the needed energy by 100 watt-hours (“How Fabrics and Foams”). Even though the high-tech needed to filter through the variable and complex chemicals in polyurethane can be energy-intensive, progress is still being made towards more energy efficient materials production. Gaming chairs have the potential to lessen their embodied energy consumption thanks to recycled material technology, but their end-of-life isn’t as promising.
While the use of recycled materials allows for more energy efficiency in the life cycle of a gaming chair, their overall waste management almost cancels this out because of the reliance on energy-intensive machinery to break down the materials in the chairs. At their very end or if someone doesn’t choose to resell their gaming chair, most are just left on the curb or at garbage disposals. Also, most people don’t have the technology or time to sort out the different materials in the chair, like the PP plastic that covers the steel structure. This essentially leaves the waste processing up to their garbage men and waste managers at the landfills, who operate trucks and machines powered by crude oils. In addition, the polyurethane used to make foam and PU leather takes over a hundred years to decompose—meaning no matter how many times it’s recycled, it will still be piled up in a landfill at the end of its use (Dreesmann).
All in all, the energy used throughout a gaming chair’s life cycle is very high in nearly all of the different stages. The highest amounts of energy are focused in the earlier half of the life cycle with environmentally invasive extractions and energy intensive manufacturing. Even an area that doesn’t seem to be directly energy consuming, like the use of the product, still has a possibility to drive up energy usage. Manufacturers are already on the way with environmental considerations of their production processes, particularly when it comes to recycled materials, and are working to lessen their energy consumption. Since the gaming chair industry is quite a large market at this point, it would be more sustainable to just buy a chair secondhand, as is the case with most other modern products.
Bibliography
“ANDASEAT Champions Sustainability This Earth Day with the Eco-Friendly Kaiser 4 Chair.” AndaSeat Official, 22 Apr. 2024, www.andaseat.com/blogs/news/andaseat-champions-sustainability-this-earth-day-with-the-eco-friendly-kaiser-4-chair
Boustead, Ian. Polypropylene (PP), Mar. 2005, www.inference.org.uk/sustainable/LCA/elcd/external_docs/pp_31116f04-fabd-11da-974d-0800200c9a66.pdf.
Dreesmann, Manuel. “What Is Pu Leather - and Why You Should Avoid!” Manuel Dreesmann, 28 Feb. 2023, www.manuel-dreesmann.com/en-us/blogs/information/what-is-pu-leather-and-why-you-should-avoid.
“Energy Use in the Mining Industry.” The World Counts, www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/mining/energy-use-in-the-mining-industry.
“Energy Use in the Steel Industry.” World Steel Association, Apr. 2021, www.worldsteel.org/wp-content/uploads/Fact-sheet-Energy-use-in-the-steel-industry.pdf.
“How Fabrics and Foams Are Recycled.” 1-800-Got-Junk?, 16 Apr. 2024, www.1800gotjunk.com/us_en/blog/furniture/how-fabrics-foams-recycled#:~:text=Fabric%20shredders%20are%20large%20and,yarn%20for%20sale%20and%20repurposing.
“How Is Foam Made, and What Materials Are Used to Make Foam?” Santech Foam Machines, 18 Mar. 2024, www.santechfoammachines.com/how-is-foam-made-and-what-materials-are-used-to-make-foam/
Johnson, Mitchell. “How Gaming Chairs are Made in China: Inside a Factory that Makes Gaming Chairs for the Whole World.” YouTube, uploaded by Factory Asia, 30 January 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYGygZzpqg0
“Life Cycle Analysis of Mattress Recycling in California.” Mattress Recycling Council, 16 Nov. 2022, mattressrecyclingcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CA-Life-Cycle-Analysis-Final-ES.pdf.
Martelaro, Nikolas. “Energy Use in US Steel Manufacturing.” Introduction to the Physics of Energy - PH240 - Stanford University - Fall 2016, 4 Dec. 2016, large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/martelaro1/.
“Oil and Petroleum Products Explained: Refining Crude Oil.” U.S. Energy Information Administration, www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/refining-crude-oil-the-refining-process.php.
“Oil and Petroleum Products Explained: Where our oil comes from.” U.S. Energy Information Administration, www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/where-our-oil-comes-from-in-depth.php.
Otis, Paul. “Recycling Is the Primary Energy Efficiency Technology for Aluminum and Steel Manufacturing.” U.S. Energy Information Administration, 9 May 2014, www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=16211#:~:text=Recycling%20is%20the%20primary%20energy%20efficiency%20technology%20for%20aluminum%20and%20steel%20manufacturing,-Source%3A%20U.S.%20Energy&text=The%20production%20of%20iron%2C%20steel,of%20total%20manufacturing%20energy%20use.
Salman, Muhammad. “How to Dispose off a Gaming Office Chair.” Turborevs, 26 Oct. 2023, www.turborevs.org.uk/how-to-dispose-off-a-gaming-office-chair/
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“The Environmental Impact of Traditional Cardboard Moving Boxes: Insights and Implications.” The Chicago Greenbox, The Chicago Greenbox, 5 Mar. 2024, www.thechicagogreenbox.com/the-moving-blog/the-environmental-impact-of-traditional-cardboard-moving-boxes-insights-and-implications#:~:text=The%20creation%20of%20cardboard%20is,the%20cardboard%20production’s%20carbon%20footprint.
“What Is Polypropylene Fabric: Properties, How Its Made and Where.” Sewport, Sewport, 28 Feb. 2019, sewport.com/fabrics-directory/polypropylene-fabric.
Wikipedia contributors. "Gaming chair." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 May. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaming_chair#:~:text=The%20gaming%20chair%20market%20grew,and%20the%20popularization%20of%20eSports.
Zhou, Natalie
June 5, 2024
DES 040A
Professor Cogdell
Waste & Emissions of a Gaming Chair
Gaming chairs have started becoming a popular option for many who engage in sitting for long periods of time and are in need of furniture that prioritizes the consumer’s comfort. However, with its increasing popularity, it is important for consumers to realize the type of waste that it produces, as most of the components that make up a gaming chair are not biodegradable or recyclable. In addition, production of the gaming chair often releases harmful emissions, as the type of materials that goes into producing the parts needed for the product emits a hefty amount of greenhouse gasses. A gaming chair’s life cycle may prove to be unsustainable.
There are many materials and components that go into the creation of a gaming chair. While a majority of a gaming chair is made up of synthetic material, there are also natural materials that are used as well during production. Polyurethane plastic is often what is used to create a majority of the chair, and is created synthetically. As a result, there is little to no waste that is produced when creating this type of material. However, in order to create polyurethane plastic, the “...raw materials [that are used] to start making polyurethane…are petroleum-based. Petroleum (or crude oil) is a non-renewable resource, ”(Nguyen 9). Extracting petroleum has been shown to produce greenhouse gas and, “On average… [emits] 10.3 grams of emissions for every megajoule…” (Garthwaite 3). Despite how little waste is produced during the creation of polyurethane plastic, it does not mean that the material itself does not produce waste at all. Petroleum is a material that is used in order to create the plastic and extracting it has been shown to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, it can be concluded that in order to produce polyurethane plastic, it creates a substantial amount of emissions that affects the environment, as greenhouse gasses are a main contributor to climate change. Next, steel is often a type of material that is used to create screws and bolts, which are used within the gaming chair. As steel is made up of iron, there needs to be extraction of the material. However it is shown that the acquisition of the ore, “...[produces] 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions,” (Service 1). Although the screws and bolts that are in a gaming chair may not make up a majority of the product, the acquisition of such material proves to have a substantial effect on the environment and does have a contributing factor towards climate change. When taking into consideration how many gaming chairs are produced, the emissions of such a small part of the product adds up. As a result, despite how much of the chair is perceived as sustainable as a result of it using synthetic material, it is not the case, as acquiring the raw materials to create it has been shown to contribute towards greenhouse gas emissions.
There are many types of materials that are used in order to formulate a gaming chair. Since gaming chairs are not patented, there are many different ways that it may be formulated. Most of the time, furniture is created through machines, and gaming chairs often undergo the same process. However, as a result, it emits waste, as companies are most likely using energy such as fossil fuels or electricity to power the machines. In fact, according to the article “Sector by sector: where do global greenhouse gas emissions come from?” by Hannah Ritchie, it mentions that 10.6% of greenhouse gas emissions come from manufacturing products (Ritchie 21). Gaming chairs undergo machinery manufacturing, and as a result, it contributes to almost ten percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that are being released into the atmosphere. The amount of emissions that the machinery creates while producing a gaming chair may not be sustainable in the long run. Additionally, the furniture is typically packaged in a cardboard box, which increases the amount of waste that it produces when it comes to the manufacturing process. Despite this, cardboard is easily repurposed and is, “primarily made from recycled paper or wood pulp…” (Kubbinga 2). It shows that producing the packaging of a gaming chair does not produce too much waste as it is often a type of material that is repurposed multiple times. Cardboard is biodegradable as well, which reduces its overall waste when it comes to packaging. Even though it is a positive that cardboard is easily recyclable and biodegradable, it does not change the fact that the manufacturing of a gaming chair has a very noticeable carbon footprint.
There are many ways for a gaming chair to be distributed to its customers. This can be done through a variety of ways, such as through shipping via flight, ship, and motor vehicles. All three of these modes of transportation produce emissions that affect the environment, as they release greenhouse gasses and rely on fossil fuels. In fact, transportation, “accounted for over 24% of global CO2 emissions in 2016.” (Wang and Ge 4). Transporting the materials for manufacturing and the product to its final destination releases a lot of emissions through the type of vehicle it is in. The transportation of raw materials and distribution of gaming chairs to consumers adds up over time, as there are many different locations that it goes through over its lifetime. While there are more sustainable transportation options out there, a majority still rely on those that emit a ton of greenhouse gasses. Overall, the transportation of a gaming chair up until it reaches the consumer’s home, is shown to produce a substantial amount of greenhouse gasses.
Gaming chairs tend to be a type of furniture that lasts for years. It is a type of product that can be reused, and that type of materials that make up a gaming chair are extremely durable. Overtime, wear and tear will occur with continued usage, as do most types of furniture.. However, as long as it is not subjected to extreme conditions that cause its materials to break down, it is an easy piece of furniture to maintain as long as it is properly taken care of, such as cleaning and repairing when needed. There is some waste associated with cleaning, as water is used in order to spot clean a gaming chair when needed. However, besides using water, there isn’t much else that is used in order to maintain the cleanness of the chair, which shows that the amount of waste that is produced when maintaining the product is minimal.
Recycling a gaming chair can prove to be difficult, as it comprises of many different types of materials. Most of the materials that are used oftentimes cannot be recycled and simply ends up in landfills. Faux leather that is created using polyurethane plastic and often is discarded by, “Landfilling [as it is] still the most common way to process [the] waste,” (Kemona and Malgorzata 13). This proposes an issue, as plastic does not decompose nor break down. Similarly, to faux leather, the foam within the gaming chair is made up of polyurethane plastic. As a result, most of the material often ends up in landfills, just like the faux leather. Repurposing foam isn’t easy, as “...the material cannot be melted in order to be remodeled into other products,” (Gómez-Rojo and et al 1). Recycling and using this type of material for other purposes is oftentimes not able to happen, which means it simply just ends as waste. In addition to this, when this type of material is in landfills, it is shown that they, “decompose into hazardous, environment-damaging substances,” (Grolms 4). Towards the end of a gaming chairs lifecycle, it is shown that it has the potential to have a negative impact on the environment. The non-biodegradable nature and the toxic nature of it after being discarded, shows that it is extremely harmful to the Earth towards the end of its life. On the other hand, it has been shown that aluminum can easily be recycled. In fact, “there is no limit to how many times [aluminum] can be recycled… more than two-thirds of all the aluminum that has ever been produced is still being used today.” (Sinai 3). This shows that aluminum itself does not produce much waste, as it is constantly being recycled and reused. However, in order to make sure that this occurs at the end of its lifecycle, proper disposal of it must occur. This might involve taking apart the chair and getting its screws and bolts out in order to make sure that it is recycled, instead of simply leaving the gaming chair all in one piece. The majority of the gaming chair does end up creating a ton of waste that is not able to be recycled, as that is the nature of plastic. In addition to this, it also leeches dangerous chemicals as it breaks down. However, the smaller components of the chair, such as the bolts and screws can be recycled indefinitely, which reduces its contribution towards waste.
To conclude, a gaming chair’s life cycle shows that it produces a hefty amount of waste when it is not in the hands of a consumer. The only time the chair is shown to produce a minimal amount of waste is when it is being actively used. As a result, it is important for people to maintain and prolong the product’s usage, in order to offset the amount of waste that it produces. In addition, gaming chairs never truly break down and prove to be difficult to repurpose, which ultimately shows that the product is not a sustainable product, despite its usage longevity.
Bibliography
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Ritchie, Hannah. “Sector by sector: where do global greenhouse gas emissions come from?” Our World In Data, 18 Sep. 2020. https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector Accessed 4 June 2024.
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