What Are Your Favorite Eco-Decor Items?

You've probably heard of fast fashion as it pertains to apparel—you know, the cheap and trendy clothes that fall apart after one season and are sent packing to the trash. Well, fast fashion happens in the home furnishing world as well. Stores are filled to the rafters with "fast furniture"—cheaply made products created to earn a quick buck. After a relatively short life in a house, fast furniture makes the landfill its permanent home.

According to the EPA, 12.1 million tons of furniture and furnishings (including items such as sofas, tables, chairs, and mattresses) were thrown away in 2018. Around 20% of that was incinerated for energy recovery; most of it (80.1%) was landfilled. Gone are the days when homes were filled with items built to last a lifetime.

That U.S. landfills were given 19,360,000,000 pounds of furnishings in a single year is obviously troubling. But waste is just part of the problem. There are also unsustainable materials and supply chains; there is the exploitation of resources, pollution during manufacture, and packaging and shipping plights to consider, to name just a few of the issues.

Thankfully, fighting the flood of fast furniture is a host of companies making eco-friendly items with which to furnish one's home. From products made by international manufacturers to small indie labels, consumers have an increasing array of ways to furnish and decorate in a manner that doesn't harm the planet. And these are the makers and products we are celebrating in Treehugger's Best of Green Awards for Eco Decor.

To help us in this endeavor, we are teaming up with home decor site MyDomaine. With Treehugger's authority in sustainability and MyDomaine's deep expertise in all things decor, we will find the best of the best when it comes to sustainable furnishings that we can all feel great about using.

And now, we are asking for your help. We are opening nominations up to the public, and we would love to hear about your favorite sustainable products that fall into the following categories:

• Furniture
• Bedding + Bath
• Walls + Windows
• Tableware
• Lighting + Gadgets
• Flooring

Do you have some amazing organic sheets? Have you found gorgeous wallpaper made of renewable and recycled materials? Do you love your Nest thermostat? Do tell! Drop a comment here, on any of our social media accounts, or write to us at contact@treehugger.com with "Best of Green Eco Decor Awards" in the subject line.

Thank you for your input. Winners will be announced in September.