MOVING TOWARDS CIRCULARITY IN THE EU FURNITURE MARKET A study on policy scenarios and their potential impacts

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1. Analyse the main constraints & opportunities for circularity at each stage of the supply chains for furniture

2. Identify key interventions and explore policy levers to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy in the furniture sector

3. Assess the potential benefits in terms of material conservation, GHG emission reduction and net cost saving opportunities

This report is authored by www.eunomia.co.uk, published in September 2017 and can be downloaded from the EEB Website here.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY commissioned by EEB in Nov. 2016

Moving towards circularity in the EU furniture market

EU 28 – 2015 consumption weight (tonnes)

by furniture group

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

Kitchen Furniture

Mattresses Metal furniture Non Upholstered

seats

Other furniture Upholstered seats/ sofa beds/ futon

Wooden furniture

Barriers to a Circular EU Furniture Sector

• Fundamental economics - low cost of new furniture vs. costs associated with refurbishment

• Poor durability of materials - e.g. flat pack chipboard restricts second life

• Poor design for disassembly, reassembly and reconfiguration

• Method of labelling flame retardant on furniture products encourages removal by consumers;

• Hazardous chemicals (e.g. certain flame retardants banned) that restrict reuse and recycling

• Lack of available markets for certain recovered waste material streams

• Investment and capacity in waste management infrastructure

Case Study: Extended Producer

Responsibility for Furniture in France

• Main objectives of French EPR

include decreasing waste furniture to

landfill, and achieving a 45%

recycling/reuse target

• €80M collected via levies paid by

furniture producers in 2015 to

finance EPR

• Key requirement of regulations

includes fostering reuse, so that the

total volume of reused goods back

on to the market increases by 50%

by 2017

• Requirement for reusable furniture to

be transferred to social partners

Case Study: Sustech CE Innovation Business

Support to Manufacturing Sector, Belgium

Programme to accelerate transition

towards closed loop models in textiles,

wood and furniture manufacturing

sectors in Belgium:

• Dematerialisation

• Sustainable material selection

• Design for recycling

• Re-assembly

• Modularity

• Recycling

• Lifetime Extension

Partners - Fedustria, Centexbel and

WOOD.BE

Potential CE interventions

Potential policy options that could work effectively together to provide varying degrees of circularity to deal with market failures on the supply side and the demand side include:

• Package 1: Fully Mandatory

• Package 2: Part Mandatory

• Package 3: Full Voluntary

• Package 4: Incentives Only

• Package 5: Information Only

• Package 6: Waste Management Only

Some of the policy options presented in the packages would fit some furniture categories better than others

We deemed that for this screening work on the potentials for circularity, we could not enter the details of when and how to apply each possible instruments to each product category

Necessary horizontal CE interventions

But the following horizontal measures need to be added to each

package to prevent fundamental barriers to reuse:

• Mandatory regulation on fire label location and attachment – to

avoid it being visible (and consequently removed); and

• Development of a ‘Green Furniture Mark’ (GFM) – namely, a set

of criteria to verify the circularity performance scale of furniture,

deployed alongside Eco-design, Extended Producer

Responsibility (EPR) and modulation, Green Public Procurement

(GPP), and Ecolabelling.

Package 1: Fully Mandatory

Supply Side

• Mandatory EPR for take back, with preparing for reuse and

recycling targets, and with a modulated fee (based on meeting

GFM criteria) or an IPR approach, to encourage better design for

repair and recycling.

• Mandatory eco-design measures on durability (repair and

recyclability should be covered by EPR drivers to a degree as

noted above) or mandatory warranty period of five years to drive

durability.

Demand Side

• Mandatory GPP to drive demand for reuse and remanufactured

items (other aspects taken care of by mandatory eco-design).

Package 2: Part Mandatory

Supply Side

• Mandatory EPR for take back, with preparing for reuse and

recycling targets, and with a modulated fee (based on the GFM

criteria) or an IPR approach, to encourage better design for

repair and recycling.

• EU-wide voluntary eco-design standards and associated label –

referring to the GFM - to meet a variety of CE criteria across

durability, the use of recycled material content and reused

components and to facilitate repair, remanufacture and recycling.

Demand Side

• Mandatory GPP for the public sector, with common criteria based

on the GFM.

Package 3: Full Voluntary

Supply Side

• EU-wide voluntary agreement (Self-Regulatory Initiative) on take

back, preparing for reuse and recycling as an alternative to

mandatory EPR.

• EU-wide voluntary eco-design standards and associated label

based on the GFM - to meet a variety of CE criteria like durability,

low toxicity and to facilitate repair, remanufacture and recycling.

Demand Side

• Promotion of voluntary GPP criteria to public procurers as now.

• Promotion of the GFM based Ecolabel to consumers.

Package 4: Incentives Only

Supply Side

• EU-wide SME support initiative for CE innovation in the sector,

combined with tax incentives, grants and/or low interest loans for

CE furniture companies.

• Deposit-refund incentive for consumers to return furniture for

reuse and recycling, i.e. a refundable levy on new furniture, or a

modulated ‘bulky waste’ collection charge – free where the item

is reusable.

Demand Side

• Mandatory labelling of warranty (‘free’) period to allow for market

differentiation and conscious choice of consumers.

• Tax incentives for repair, refurbishment/ remanufacturing

activities; e.g. lower rates of VAT.

Package 5: Information Only

Supply Side

• Mandatory Product Passports (PP) from the OEMs to facilitate

repair and remanufacture.

• EU-wide voluntary eco-design standards and associated label

based on the GFM - to meet a variety of CE criteria like durability,

low toxicity and to facilitate repair, remanufacture and recycling.

Demand Side

• Mandatory labelling of warranty (‘free’) period to allow for market

differentiation and conscious choice of consumers.

• Promotion of the GFM based ecolabel to consumers.

Package 6: Waste Management Only

• EU wide landfill ban on furniture disposal.

• Clearer regulation/guidance from the EU around end of waste

status and use of recycled materials.

Modelling of potential impacts

of the different Policy Packages

Policy Package Additional tonnes reused

Additional tonnes

recycled

Estimated net carbon impacts

for scenario, tonnes CO2 eq.

Additional job creation

1 Full Mandatory 2,097,962 3,670,289 -5,713,542 157,347

2 Part Mandatory 1,546,538 3,149,566 -4,933,647 115,990

3a Full Voluntary - self-regulatory

1,069,288 2,392,433 -2,896,593 80,197

3b Full Voluntary - industry-led 717,278 1,470,269 -2,172,445 53,796

4 Incentives only 440,452 1,053,690 -1,810,371 33,034

5 Information only 227,187 687,853 -1,448,296 17,039

6 Waste management only 168,225 3,185,947 -3,343,633 12,617

Summary and Conclusions

• Whilst the EU furniture industry has so far managed to remain competitive, it faces problems in signalling quality and sustainability of its own domestic product.

• The study has confirmed a wide range of barriers to greater circularity in the EU furniture sector - e.g. technical issues around design and chemicals policy, market issues relating to the low relative cost of new furniture.

• Circular economy interventions offer potential to counter these trends with repair, refurbishment and remanufacture allowing value recovery, economic growth and job creation within the EU furniture industry.

• Realising these economic, environmental and social benefits will therefore require the adoption of appropriate demand and supply chain levers, to support a significant step change across the industry.

@Green_Europe

With the support of theLIFE Programme of theEuropean Union

www.eeb.org / www.makeresourcescount.eu

carsten.wachholz@eeb.org

Thank you for your attention!

Carsten Wachholz, Senior Policy Officer Resource Conservation and Product Policies