The Swedish furniture sector had serious discussions in 1996/97 about manufacturers' responsibility with regard to the products they produce and the responsibility for the environmental effects when finally scrapped approximately 15 to 20 years after production.

In 1996, Mr Lennart Daleus (then member of the Swedish parliament and chairman of the Ecological Cycle Delegation) was anxious to see the furniture industry work on a voluntary basis to establish a plan for action for the re-use and recycling of furniture.

It was agreed to prepare draft plan for action, which should serve as a basis for negotiations for furniture producer liability. In January 1996, was founded the Ecological Cycle Council for Furniture by the Swedish Furniture Manufacturers Association (SMI), representatives of the furniture trade and recycling companies.

The experience of the building sector was used as a benchmark.

Initially, the project was seen a common activity between producers and distributors to find suitable solution for an environmentally acceptable return of furniture and built-in kitchen fittings to the ecological cycle.

At one stage it was proposed that it should be facing a new law specifically worked out for furniture. This proposal to the government has been withdrawn.

During the debates, it was planned to develop a number of sites where furniture could be collected and prepared for future recycling. It was also said that recycling is limited to producing new products based upon the material in scrapped furniture.

Recycling by producing energy should not be accepted. However the government came to a reasonable conclusion and accepted energy production from old furniture.

The other ideas about furniture producers’ liability for their products should be included in a future law that regulates all goods produced, imported or sold in Sweden.

This would probably not be accepted in EU and consequently this question is currently studied more carefully than initially.

According to the last developments, the Swedish furniture industry will not get special laws or regulations and it will take some time (1- 2 years) before the industry faces a new situation.

For more information: please contact Mr Jon Klegard at jon.klegard@mobelindustrin.se

In 1996, Germany adopted the Kreislaufwirtschafts- & Abfallgesetz (KrW-/AbfG). This legislation applies to waste from production and consumption in all forms as well as used consumer goods. In accordance with the polluter pays principle, everyone who has waste in their possession or has produced it (with the notable exception of private households) is responsible for what happens to it.

To encourage low-waste closed cycles, waste records and other documents are required that detail the steeps taken to avoid residues and to use recycled raw materials.

Waste disposal plants, but not landfills are subject to licensing procedures.

Under the framework of the TA-Siedlungsabfall (Disposal of Municipal Waste - Technical Instructions), the German federal government has started discussion with the German furniture business for the collection of furniture (considered as consumer goods made of wood) at the end of their life cycle.

By 2005, any waste form furniture can either be incinerated or recycled: special pre-treatment of waste is also planned. Objective is to limit the landfills.

The furniture industry is involved in the negotiations but it does not agree with the solutions proposed which should require the costs to be supported by the manufacturers (creation of a collection system). The retailers do not want this regulation because of additional charges (administrative and financial) that they should have to support.

Globally, all the parties are considering that the collection system currently managed by the municipalities and funded by taxes. The furniture sector proposes to maintain this system (Stichwort Sperrmüllentsorgung).

For more information: please contact Mr Manfred Baums at info@hdh-ev.de

The Finnish furniture industry is involved in a pilot project of furniture waste management.

The project aims to study possibilities for the collection and resource recovery of used furniture and to produce a model, which could be implemented in the whole Finland.

The model will be tested in a pilot-study in Helsinki and in Lahti. The environmental impacts and the economical aspects will also be studied in the project.

The project is being carried out under the furniture technology development program DIVAN that is financed by the Technology Development Centre of Finland. Other fund providers are the European Union, the furniture industry through the national trade association, the furniture retailers, relevant regional trade associations, the Furniture Foundation, the region of Paijat-Hame and Paijat-Hame and the company Waste Management Ltd.

Environmental technology centre Neopoli Ltd is the project co-ordinator and Soil and Water Ltd is responsible for the implementation of the project. The project started in January 2000 and will last until the end of the year 2001.

For more information: please contact Mrs Matti Sihvonen / tel. +358-9-132 6692                                                                  

e-mail: matti.sihvonen@forestindustries.fi

Municipalities through their recycling centres or their door-to-door collection often receive the visit of charitable groups or non-profit organisations which take away furniture which can still be used by disadvantaged people or can be sold to fund part of their activities.

Additionally, the majority of charitable institutions and of the non-profit organisations also organise and manage their own door-to-door collection systems. This collection system is provided free to households or against limited amount of money.

Depending on the countries, this re-use can represent up to 20% of the total disposal of furniture by private households.

Once collected, furniture is sorted, graded, repaired if needed and then either distributed to needy families or sold to second-hand furniture retailers to generate revenues for other activities.

Among the most visible institutions, there are the Salvation Army-Armée du Salut, Emmaus, les Petits Riens - Spullenhulp, …

In almost all the EU countries, the public administrations responsible for social care (and/or for public assistance to disadvantage people) are often contacted by or organise visits in waste disposal centres where they can select furniture that they can distribute to needy people after repair or not.

Both systems of collection, repair and re-use (free or against payment) are organised at national or at local level on a voluntary basis.

This re-use is does not only limit quantities of furniture waste but also gives a great way to employ people and raise the quality of their environment.

More and more consumers and second-hand dealers present furniture in auction houses on the Internet to get a good price for furniture not needed anymore (non-exhaustive list provided).

Recycling companies purchase metal parts and wooden parts. The retreat them or sell them as secondary raw materials (more and more companies are present on the Internet).

Two leading manufacturers of upholstered furniture (Cor - design - and Gepade - traditional -) are involved in a pilot project (Paderborn University) aiming at developing environmental-friendly pieces of furniture characterised by high quality and long life cycle but also easiness to disassemble furniture and to recycle its materials.

The project includes planning, conception, development and production of defined products. Following an inquiry, it was noted that some consumers are ready to pay 20% for environmental-friendly pieces of furniture. Manufacturers plan to recover old furniture at the end of lifecycle.

The project's criteria for environmental-friendly furniture are:

• High quality and long life span
• Decrease of the material intensity
• Exchangeability of wear and fashion-aspect sections
• Reparability
• Recycling ability (sorting feasibility)
  

COR which is a design-oriented upholstery manufacturer, has developed the " Barca " model which is completely pollutant-free and which fulfils all criteria. Visible form timber shells form the stand of the model. Cushions are easily inserted and fixed with small toggles. The materials such as belts and plastic tie clips, otherwise typical for upholstered furniture, are omitted completely. The design of this model comes from the well-known designer Peter Maly. " Barca " is not eco-furniture because environment-friendliness is not decisive with the purchase. It can be stressed during purchasing decision but it cannot be recognised as such by potential customers. Information to the customers is thus essential.

In Stuttgart (D - 1995), a pilot project was carried out to recycle almost 20,000 mattresses. Once disassembled (25 Euro by mattress including transport), foams and metal was sold to recycling companies. Revenues did not cover costs and the experience was stopped.

In the Netherlands, a study has been carried out to analyse the feasibility of collecting and recycling old mattresses: it appears that a return system (managed by the mattress sector) including disassembling and recycling of parts (metal from springs mainly and some PU foam) is feasible.

This should also promote the consumption of mattresses given the fact that the difficulty to get rid of the mattress is often quoted by consumers to postpone purchases.

In order to analyse the feasibility of such a system, the Dutch furniture manufacturers association in collaboration with the provinces' administrations and a non-profit recycling organisation have started a pilot project in two provinces (Groningen and Drenthe: 1 million inhabitants).

Aim of this 2-year project is to collect an old mattress when a new one is bought in order to recycle its parts (instead of incinerating it immediately as usual) and to give a positive image of the mattresses' industry.

The quantitative objective is to collect and recycle 75% of mattresses for disposal.

The first challenge is to set up a collection system and a sorting methodology.

During the project, all waste streams and recycling possibilities will be book kept by Matrassen Recycling Nederland (MRN). If revenues from recycled materials can finance such a system, it could be maintained.

The distribution of office furniture is different from distribution of domestic furniture. The manufacturers (medium-sized and large companies) control the manufacturing and distribution. When they sell the often organise the collection of furniture no longer use by companies. Millions of chairs (2-3), desks (1-2) and cabinets (2-3) are re-used either in the EU or in Eastern Europe or in Africa.

Total second-hand market is estimated at 600-900 million Euro. A seat can be sold at less than 50% of its original price.

They are sold to second-hand dealers or to recyclers-manufacturers who sell them directly or after refurbishing. Today, re-manufacturing and refurbishing diverts worn office furniture out of the solid waste stream and back into the consumer market by restoring it to "like new" condition.

Worn parts are replaced, cabinets are repainted, desktops are refinished or replaced, and chairs and panels are reupholstered. Furniture destined for the dump is instead looking, and functioning, like new again. And there are other benefits as well. Not only does remanufactured furniture look as good and perform as well as new office furniture, but an average savings of up to 60 percent is possible just by buying recycled.

Today’s recycled or remanufactured office furniture offers an attractive alternative to purchasing new product: a quality product, a cost-effective product and most importantly, an environmentally-conscience product.

Wood

Wood waste is estimated at 35 million tonnes/year in the EU (from construction, industry, packaging and households).

The consumption of wooden boards in the furniture industry has almost doubled with 30 years.

Less than 15% of this wood is generated by furniture waste. However, wood from furniture is often mixed with wood waste from other sources to be either incinerated or landfilled or recycled.

It makes little environmental or economic sense to landfill one combustible material, such as wood waste, while extracting another for energy, such as coal. The diversion of waste streams to incineration plants with heat recovery potential is therefore set to increase. Such a process is referred to as 'thermal recycling' to reflect the beneficial nature of recovering value from discarded materials.

In addition, it is estimated that almost 4 million of wood waste is recycled through the creation of new wooden boards.

From the beginning of the 1980's, numerous companies (especially in Germany and in Italy, two leading countries) in the wood working industry (for wooden boards such as particle boards) are using secondary wood materials as raw materials to build new panels and boards.

The principle is simple: these companies prefer homogeneous panels or wood items that they can retreat (through a recycling route) allowing magnets to take out metals and chemicals to take out wood preservatives, adhesives and coatings.

Wood is then mixed with fresh chips to produce new particle boards.

German and Italian groups like Siempelkamp (D), Fantoni (I), Nolte (D), Kraftanlagen (D), Saviola (I),…, are the leading companies using this technology and aware of the future opportunities (prices of boards have been increasing by an average 10% these last 10 years and more than 30% of wooden boards are imported from outside the EU).

Case study: the "Ecological Panel" by the Saviola Group

An interesting experience is the "Ecological Panel", entirely made with recycled wood, that represents the best answer to the environmental concerns and policies of every furniture buyer. Its productive process is guaranteed, its environmental impact is positive, no trees are cut to make it, and it is a high quality product.

The wood re-use is often indicated as one of the most innovative solutions to avoid increasing use of wood. The Ecological Panel does not require tree felling. It is solid and compact and long-lasting.

This is best demonstrated by the panel manufacturing process, which has undergone radical change through the years: from the early use of virgin poplar wood to the present recycling of wood waste from a wide range of industrial sectors.

In a joint venture with GEPI, a public finance body, the group has created SAGE. This new company is involved in setting up 50 collection centres around Italy; each centre should receive wood waste from private companies and institutions contracted in its collecting area. Wood waste is the transferred to panel production facilities.

This service is offered in centres situated in highly industrial areas and large urban centres (750 municipalities should participate).

The objective is to recycle over one thousand tonnes of wood waste each month.

The special concern for environmental problems, that is becoming central also in furnishing, is marked by the fact that more than 350 Italian furniture makers are members of the "Consortium" which centralises purchases of "Ecological Panels".

For medium density fibre boards (MDF), experiences with wood waste have started only recently: the quality of raw materials is highest than for the production of particle boards.

Since 1999, some producers of medium-density fibre boards have also been involved in the recycling of "urban waste" (such as CanFibre BV NL in the port of Amsterdam).

Case study: AllGreen MDF by CanFibre

CanFibre (a Canadian company owned by Kafus Environmental Industries) engages in the world wide development of manufacturing plants to produce high quality wood panel products such as medium density fibreboard (MDF) from 100% recycled dry waste. CanFibre MDF is North America's first "green" panel board. It is produced from materials normally dumped into landfills without the use of conventional urea formaldehyde resins.

CanFibre is currently developing state of the art production facilities in California, in New York and Amsterdam (NL).

The Dutch CanFibre plant is the first in a series of AllGreen MDF facilities planned for development in Europe by CanFibre (investment of 160 million US$).

The Amsterdam facility is designed to produce 230,000 m³/year of MDF from 100% post consumer waste wood. Main target customers are furniture manufacturers all over Europe.

PU Foams

A pilot recycling plant for PU foam (used in mattresses and upholstery) has started operation in the UK (Hertfordshire) to produce high quality polyols from flexible foam waste.

Huntsman is investing $1.7 million/£1 million in a pilot chemical recycling plant for flexible polyurethane in Hertfordshire in the UK.
The plant will be the first of its kind to produce high quality polyols from flexible foam waste.
Expected to be operating by the end of this year, it will be run in co-operation with the UK company du Vergier Ltd, a world leader in the chemical recycling of acrylics. It is intended the partnership will allow du Vergier to extend its chemical recycling operations to include polyurethane materials.
Once operational, the plant will run small-scale programs on flexible polyurethane foam used in mattresses, furniture and automotive seat cushioning. The operating experience is expected to provide adequate data for the engineering design of a 5,000 tonnes/year recycling facility.

Globally in Europe some 85,000 tonnes originated in the production of PU foams is recycled: pre-consumer materials. However, in the EU, PU foams from upholstery and mattresses are not recycled on a large scale. The majority of recycled foam is used as carpet underlay (called also rebonds).

Metal

Metal is widely used in the furniture industry both as metallic parts and as hardware. It is difficult to quantify the metal which is disposed of with furniture but it is certainly a marginal quantity of all metal recycled (around 1 million tonne).

Metal waste from furniture is often combined with other metal for recycling purposes.

Textile

Even if no experiences can provide the quantity of waste fabrics from upholstered furniture and mattresses in the different EU countries, a potential of 200,000 tonnes/year can be generated by furniture waste.

Four solutions exists after sorting if any:

• Incineration with potential heating of 23,000 kJ/kg
• Composting of textile, especially natural fibres
• Recycling of textiles for creation of towels (mainly for industrial use)
• Landfilling