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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
Thank you for your attention!
Carsten Wachholz, Senior Policy Officer Resource Conservation and Product Policies