2. SEK
In Sweden, furniture is produced for about 23 billion SEK a year. About a a quarter of these are office furniture. These office furniture are used for a few years, and are then thrown out when they have become scuffed and outdated in their designs - or simply because the business and its needs have changed. At the same time, office furniture production in Sweden is expected to contribute to climate impact with more than 150,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year.
Such a waste of material! We need to reduce this climate impact and resource consumption.

3. We think we need to use circular economy, and more specifically: circular furniture flows - where the furniture is being renovated, repaired and sold again.
With circular furniture flows, we mean production and consumption systems where furniture or parts of furniture are reused and / or repaired to return to the system at different stages. Recycling of materials can be such a reversal, but the idea is to make the loops in the system as short as possible to preserve the most of the value already worked into the product, for example, through refurbishment or reuse. This is the basis of the concept of circular economy. One expectation is that these shorter loops simultaneously increase the system's environmental, economic and social sustainability. This may be because we need to use a smaller proportion of natural resources, that the total cost of furniture management is reduced or that local jobs are created.

4. We run a project called Business Model Innovation for Circular Furniture Flows - Step 3. In the project, we work with showing how the furniture industry can turn into a more circular economy. In a previous project we have shown that with innovative business relationships and business models it is possible to unite strong competitiveness with a more sustainable development of society. The business models we encountered were ongoing renovation, repurchase and second-hand sales, centralized renovation, repurchase and renovation, rental furniture, furniture hotels, function and performance sales and refurbishment services.
In our two-year project, we take what is required for a large scale implementation, including by changing attitudes of both consumers and manufacturers, but also by designing a labeling system that quality assures and tracks recycled furniture.

5. An eco-labeled furniture complies with standardized tests and specific requirements from raw materials to waste in terms of quality, content and environmental and harmful substances. In addition, the eco-label may require the manufacturer to work with continuous improvements. However, ecolabelling such as Möbelfakta and the Swan only affect newly manufactured furniture and not reused ones.
In the project we will therefore produce a prototype for a label of a recycled furniture. The labeling will put demand on both the product and the process of producing the product. It will also provide traceability in the supply chain, with a barcode or QR code which identifies the product and receives information about it. The labeling and traceability system will be tested and evaluated. Our vision is an international labeling and traceability system, where everyone has the same prerequisite to view data on all products.

6. Together we are 25 partners, consisting of furniture manufacturers, research institutes, universities, furniture recycling organizations, regions (?), architects, purchasers, and national trade and employers' association - who have the common vision that the Swedish furniture industry will be internationally recognized to show how large-scale transition to circular economics can be implemented in practice.
Our analyzes show that it is possible to halve resource consumption and reduce climate impact by about 30 percent compared to today's linear systems where furniture is produced, used and finally thrown. With the strong will, knowledge and capacity to create change in the furniture industry today we are confident we can achieve our goals!
Financed by: