This desk is made out of a recycled cardboard called “BeeBoard”, which is a low-impact construction material, but the acrylic used to coat it might be toxic. Here’s the description:

BeeBoard is a layered cardboard with a honeycomb structure. By keeping the BeeBoard exposed, he lets the material provide a densely textured surface that contrasts with the structures’ surprising lightness. The Desk has two pillar legs that lock into the tabletop’s span and are secured by industrial adhesive. The table is completed with a slender acrylic overlay to provide a smooth, firm writing surface.

Available for $678 from DWR

From Norway, comes this “Mealbox” table — it’s a Japanese-style dining table with chairs that can all be packed in a box, because it is divided into parts that resemble jigsaw puzzle pieces. The table is made of birch plywood reinforced with carbon fiber.

Available from Igland Design.

Found via Better Living Through Design

The design of this Scando Family Table was inspired by the combination of Japanese living and watching how children relate to the floor in their daily activities. Designer Eric Pfeiffer created a table that is well crafted and multi-functional. The design makes use of wood efficiently using a single sheet of molded plywood. It’s priced at $315. Available from ModernSeed.

Bent plywood is energy efficient in its construction. Also, less wood is wasted because the wood is not milled but molded instead. This overlap tray by Offi is molded plywood with a Baltic birch veneer, and has a cork covered area for your cup of coffee. Read more about Offi here.

Available from Amazon for $99.

The furniture featured here is definitely multifunctional, serving both as a lamp and as a table or chair. It is however, too expensive to be meta-efficient. The chairs below are priced at $2850 and the tables above go for $650-999. The ideas are intriguing though, and if built with eco-effective materials, would qualify as being meta-efficient.

Links: Kubo and B9 Furniture

These chairs are made from bent maple plywood, using a technique
that consumes 1/8 of the wood normally used in construction.

The seats are webbed with recycled automobile seatbelt material. As you might
expect, this material is extremely strong and does not sag.

Danko produces
a range of similarly designed furniture in their Pennsylvania workshop.

Designer: Peter Danko
Website: PeterDanko.Com

AZCAST creates furniture from
recycled sand-cast aluminum. The aluminum,
which comes from used aircraft parts (among other sources) is hand-poured into
casts to produce the desired moldings.

AZCAST is now starting to utilize recycled
glass and plastic in their designs.

Designer: Eyreick Williamson
Website: Azcast.Com