When you’re choosing your residence hall furniture and deciding on the specs, you’ll inevitably choose what materials you want. Should it be totally solid wood or a laminate variety? If you choose to go with the latter, you’ll have to answer another important question. What kind of edge banding do you want? For many people who are new to buying residence hall furniture, that’s going to elicit some questioning faces. …
Southwestern University Case Study: Sustainable Purchasing
Summary Southwestern University hired a Sustainability Coordinator and embraced a commitment to zero waste on campus. They reached out to DCI to provide them with sustainable zero waste furniture to furnish two of their residence halls. The Oldest University in Texas Southwestern University (SU) is a private liberal arts school in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin. Situated on a 780-acre suburban campus with 1,430 undergrads, the school was founded …
DCI Wins $250K USDA Renewable Energy Systems Grant
I live in the lee of Colorado’s storied front range. The Rocky Mountains are an inspiring and imposing companion and a constant reminder that wilderness is never far away. So it’s disconcerting these days, when so much smoke from nearby wildfires fills the air. I can’t even see the foothills that are normally visible from my home. Floods drenching the Gulf Coast, wildfires burning the West Coast. Catastrophic songbird die-offs …
$75k Vermont Grant Helps DCI Support Local North Country Economies
Northern New England used to be a mecca for mill towns. The ubiquitous rivers and streams that branched across the Northeast United States powered paper, pulp, and textile mills and catapulted America to a pre-eminent position in global manufacturing during the industrial revolution. Two hundred years later, that vaunted seat of manufacturing might has ceded with slow but steady momentum to cheaper southern labor, demographic shifts, and global outsourcing. A …
For Immediate Release: Working Lands Enterprise Initiative Awards $75,000 To DCI,Inc.
The State of Vermont’s Working Lands Enterprise Initiative awarded DCI,Inc. a $75,000 grant as part of their supply chain business impact grants. The grant supports Vermont companies who are contributing to the state’s forest products industry and positively impacting the supply chain. DCI operates one of Vermont’s only FSC-certified sawmills. And the company will use the funds to expand the mill to house a new state-of-the-art high efficiency resaw to increase overall yield and …
Why We Source Mattresses Made By Blind & Visually Impaired Workers
Eighty four years ago, in a small two-room shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a few members of the local Lions Club gathered to charter a new initiative. They were opening a manufacturing plant operated by the visually impaired. It started small, but it grew into something remarkable. Humble Beginnings The organization founded that day was called Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind. It would grow to become IFB Solutions, the largest employer …
DCI Hosts Sustainability Delegation From South & Central America
The White Mountains of New Hampshire are dramatic and beautiful. Driving into the North Country, they suddenly rise from the rolling pastoral hills of northern New England. Approaching the sheer granite faces of Franconia Notch, you wouldn’t be the first person to draw comparisons to Yosemite’s magnificent half dome. Yes, they exist on different scales, but they’re both arresting. So it was no surprise that awe and appreciation for New …
Residence Hall Furniture: The Complete Insider’s Guide
Are you in the market to furnish your college or university residence hall? Maybe this is your first time buying dormitory furniture for your school’s residence hall or perhaps you’re a seasoned veteran. Either way, it’s a big job and there are so many emerging trends influencing the conception, design, development, use, and installation of residence hall furniture. So we’ve created a guide to help you navigate the key contexts and questions you should consider. …
5 Stories from Our Sustainable Furniture Solutions Hall of Fame
When it comes to sustainable furniture solutions, we’ve had the good fortune to work with some amazing schools who are steadfastly committed to sustainability. In fact, two of our clients recently won the top two spots in Sierra’s Coolest Schools Ranking, which highlights the work of the greenest schools in the US and Canada. As a company dedicated to building the most sustainable furniture in the residence hall furniture market, we appreciate it …
Here’s the Real Secret Behind DCI’s Long Lasting Furniture
What’s the secret behind our long lasting furniture? One time-honored principle of sustainability gives us a simple way to understand the answer to that question. When people think about sustainability, they often think about the obvious things like reusing and recycling parts, powering your operation with renewable energy, creating zero waste, and making nontoxic products. Of course, those are all valid and important. A Simple Secret About Sustainability But there’s an ancient element of sustainability that a lot of …