Sometimes it is easy to forget that recycled items aren’t well known to the entire population. Recycled furniture, and the subsequent difficulty of the research to find definitions and examples of products, showed me just how new some concepts still are to the general public.

So, what in the world is the universal definition of recycled furniture? While there isn’t one, there seems to be a general consensus that the furniture is made from materials that can be replenished naturally with minimal to no use of toxic chemicals during the manufacturing of the products, according to HomeRenovationGuide.com. The most common materials included in recycled furniture vary by state, it seems. The common denominator is most often the use of wood, at least partially, but the type and amount are still subject to the local climate and availability. For instance, in North Carolina, a furniture company called Airedale Woodworks makes furniture using recycled wood from old barns. In California, Urban Woods creates sustainable furniture with reclaimed woods from vintage buildings in Los Angeles. In New Jersey, Jay Sanders design company salvages pine and hemlock from old buildings. Until recently, wood-based products dominated, but not anymore. Many sustainability-minded professionals took to the idea of recycled furniture and started creating. The results are popping up all over the place. Newcomers include eye-pleasing but surprisingly practical pieces such as aluminum shavings for countertops and newspapers for chairs. Other attention-grabbers are taking much more of a creative license in their fresh approach to the market; no item is out of place. Ecoble.com features an old iron posing as a lamp, a shopping cart becoming a chair and a bike tire taking the shape of a table. Much like the rest of the innovations in recycling, this one is snowballing quickly. The popularity of recycled furniture continues to sit well with consumers.