How is Interior Design Contributing Towards the Circular Economy?
Did you know an estimated eight billion trees are cut down annually for furniture production (legally and illegally), while eight million tonnes of plastic waste is dumped in the world’s oceans each year.
Ever wondered what a circular economy is and how interior design is making a valuable contribution towards it?
WHAT IS A CIRCULAR ECONOMY?
A circular economy is the approach within a design to save costs by becoming resource efficient, generating revenue through the reuse of materials, and creating environmental value by reducing CO2 emissions.
The Circular Economy Explained: Photo Credit London Recycles
“Businesses who want to be profitable, innovative and progressive will look to reduce the volumes of waste they produce, will think about the way their products are made and distributed, and what happens to them when they reach their end of life”.
Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011, Defra
In September 2012 the Great Recovery project, launched by the Action and Research Centre at the RSA, it aims to build a cross disciplinary design community that is equipped to support the development of an economy based on resource-efficient principles.
“Design will play a key role in the transition to a circular economy. We need to educate and inspire the design industry to take up this challenge”.
Sophie Thomas Project Director, The Great Recovery
The Great Recovery is a project run by the Action and Research Centre at the RSA and supported by the Technology Strategy Board.
THE GREAT RECOVERY: THE INVESTOR
John Whittall | TSB Lead Technologist | Resource Efficiency.
The TSB have understood for sometime the importance of design, but for me the key moment came about two years ago when I saw Sophie Thomas give an inspirational talk on how very often we design products with scant regard for what happens when we no longer want them. She used lots of dramatic images on the consequences of such short-term thinking – piles of plastic waste accumulating on beaches after being concentrated by ocean currents, the persistence of everyday items in the environment long after we have finished with them – and the key message was that waste is design gone wrong. For TSB it’s all about generating long-term wealth for the UK. Yes, these issues are seen by many as environmental or societal problems, but we believe the way to address them at scale is to bring businesses to the table, articulate the opportunity and give them the tools and connections they need to make change happen. The UK is well placed with many good eco-design practitioners, but at present it seems to be a niche activity. If we could mobilise the broader design community so that eco-design principles become embedded into good design practices that would be a real win. We have a world-class design sector in the UK and working with the RSA is a great way to reach out to this community
THE GREAT RECOVERY: THE SERVICE DESIGNER
James Rock | Managing Director | Design Thinkers.
When I started my career, the UK was a manufacturing economy. Now the UK doesn’t manufacture so many products and we’re essentially a service economy. Service design is really in its infancy. Many design schools still aren’t teaching service design and most service designers are only in their twenties. After World War II, America had excess manufacturing capacity and it had to develop a market for that manufacturing capacity. That’s how marketing began, that’s how graphic design began, that’s how commercial TV began, because it was all about promoting the capacity of manufacturers to deliver products. From that we ended up with our consumer society. China have been soaking up our manufacturing requirements with their low cost manufacturing capacity. They have a growing middle class and are now developing their own markets. In the UK, Europe and North America we have a situation where 78 percent of our economy measured by GDP is in services and 91 percent of employment is in services. It’s therefore not surprising that we’re using new service design tools to bring innovation.
THE GREAT RECOVERY: THE MATERIAL EXPERT
Rob Ireson | Innovation Team Leader | Glass Technology Services
The key thing was the chance to think about the full lifecycle of things, the different processes that are out there and the amount of dead materials that sit in people’s drawers. It’s also been a good opportunity to network. One of the things we’ve realised in our company is that we have good links with the manufacturing sector and we’re linked with the British Glass Trade Association. We’ve got good links with the retail people and people like the brewers and the distillers. But, we don’t have particularly good links with people who actually design products. I’ve realised today that we actually need to develop those links with the designers who might use glass in their products to see if we can support them or inspire them.
Niche brands such as Van de Sant, Pentatonic, ecoBirdy, and Vepa/Ocean Plastic up-cycle existing resources, including discarded waste, into desirable furniture pieces and accessories.
As Industry pioneers these companies are pushing the boundaries turning textiles, foam, and plastics, from coffee cup lids to old toys and CDs, into items customers can return for recycling.
In 2012, when Robert Milder launched his outdoor furniture brand, Van de Sant, he avoided disclosing the sustainable signature of the brand. Back in 2012 consumer demand for marine waste up-cycled into premium furniture, no pun intended but how the tide has turned!
“One of our lounge chairs utilises 25kg of plastic waste,” he says. “Compared with traditional manufacturing, its production reduces 50kg of carbon emissions, avoids the 25kg of wood required, and saves 8,000 litres of water per piece.” “In the future we would love to set up our own manufacturing locally [in Asia], preferably on island locations where plastic waste is a problem, and jobs are needed,” he says. Considering all the container ships that supply those islands, and “go back empty”, - Robert Milder
Stylish Sustainability: Photo Credit: Van de Sant
Made from recycled plastic: Image Credit: Pentatonic
Photo Credit: ecoBirdy: Beautiful, Sustainable and functional.
“Circular” furniture utilises resources already in existence, via a low-carbon process. The production process supports and promotes jobs in local communities, and at the end of a piece’s life cycle it never ends up in landfill. Circular companies also offer to buy back furniture from current owners, to be refurbished and sold on to new owners. Brands like Petatonic are exploring the possibilities such as using rice Husk to produce mobile phone cases.
Image Credit: Petatonic Rice Husk Mobile Phone Case
“In the future we would love to set up our own manufacturing locally [in Asia], preferably on island locations where plastic waste is a problem, and jobs are needed,” he says. Considering all the container ships that supply those islands, and “go back empty”, Milder sees islands as the perfect place to incubate a circular furniture industry.
“With office furniture we can make an even greater impact, as many companies want to make a positive contribution to a cleaner environment,” Smit says.
Design studio LAMA Concept and manufacturer Vepa are creating the ‘plastic Whale’ Circular Furniture collection, they began in February 2018, with design inspiration taken from the form and curves of a whale. Currently, the Plastic Whale Circular Furniture is sold only in the Netherlands, but the company says it is “always possible to explore the possibilities” beyond home shores.
We hope you enjoyed reading this informative content:
Connect | Comment | Share
Hello From Speak,
We relish the opportunity to home stage and create interior design’s that inspires. We love to maximise space, leverage colour, and blend architectural features with modern design.
Contact us to SPEAK about your home staging or interior design project’s. We would love to hear from you and explore the rich possibilities!