China's "Technical Requirement For Environmental Labelling Products – Kitchen Furniture" was brought into effect onJuly 1, 2008.
The new rule was edited by the Environmental Development Center of Ministry of Environmental Protection and China Association of Decorative Building Materials, involving environmental requirements for materials such as table-board, paint, plastic, metal pieces and glass. CADBM reports that the kitchen furniture industry is developing fast these years and gaining more investors' attention in China. Besides kitchen furniture manufacturing companies, relative industries such as household appliances, sanitary utensils and building materials are also expanding their business in kitchen furniture production.
Expansion of the kitchen furniture industry also causes some serious problems. For example, related industrial standards are not uniform; standardization and industrialization are hard to realize; the marketing service network is difficult to expand; and research and development of new technologies, products, techiniques and materials are behind international levels.
To solve these problems, CADBM, entrusted by China Environmental United Certification Center, together with other related associations and companies drafted the environmental standard for kitchen furniture in August 2006, which will also be basis for kitchen furniture companies to apply for China Environmental Labelling.
The first nine kitchen furniture companies that have obtained "China Environmental Labelling" are Qingdao Haier Kitchen Facilities Co. Ltd; Shenzhen Debao Industry Development Co., Ltd; Nanjing Banta Furniture Manufacture Co., Ltd; Hefei Zhibang Kitchen Utensil Co. Ltd; Ningbo Oulin Kitchen Utensil Co. Ltd; Sakura China; Boloni Home Products (Beijing) Ltd; Foshan Hanli Furniture Manufacture Co., Ltd; and Beijing Robam Kitchen Furniture Co., Ltd. These companies are likely to be included in the government's green procurement list.