Our mission at RE:inventar of providing sustainable furnishing solutions stems from the recognition that manufacturing and buying new has a significant yet avoidable impact on our environment. From VOC emissions to the net CO2 Global Warming Potential (GWP), we find that opting for reuse makes a measurable difference to our overall impact and by contributing to the circular economy. 

Minimising our Global Warming Potential (GWP):

It can be rather difficult to visualise the direct environmental impact when buying a new chair. An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certification is a tool we can use to accurately measure the and outline the environmental impact of any accredited product throughout its lifecycle. According to the manufacturer’s EPD of a singular Herman Miller Aeron Chair, the measured GWP is 87 kg CO2-eq. On any given office installation project, the accumulative GWP of all these chairs has a significant carbon footprint on the overall environmental impact. When buying reuse, according to our Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on average we save 40 kg CO2-eq per chair. We have a 92% part restitution rate, meaning each of our chairs is mainly reconstructed from original parts. If we are given 100 office chairs, we can reconstruct around 92 completely like new refurbished chairs using parts from that original 100 group. To put this into perspective, a 1TB iPhone 16  has a GWP of 95 kg CO2-eq. We are able to reproduce 2 whole office chairs and have around the same GWP as a single iPhone 16. 

The impact of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs):

Factory new chairs also have the added downside of offgassing harmful Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) for the first few years of life. VOCs are not only harmful to our ozone layer and contribute to global warming, but can cause a variety of lasting health concerns to those exposed. These VOCs are a product of the chemicals and materials used during the initial manufacturing process. We are able to avoid the initial offgassing impacts of VOCs, as the products we reconstruct have had the time to offgas before coming to us for refurbishment. 

Landfill Waste and End of Life management: 

A significant component of our mission is our commitment to zero landfill waste. As well as the inherent environmental impact of landfill waste, the increasing landfill tax has been an incentive for the industry to opt for other solutions. Our office flooring and furnishing solutions have directly addressed this increasing demand for circular use. When taking up carpet tile, we clean and assess the tiles to see which ones are in a reworkable condition. The tiles that are deemed unusable for new flooring projects are now being used as energy recovery fuel. We are continually researching and developing new solutions to minimise our end of life global impact. Our furniture reconditioning process has also been strategically devised to have no landfill waste. Each component is recycled and reused, storing unused parts for future refurbishment projects. 

Warranties:

We offer warranties on all of our furniture and carpet tiles, making your decision to opt for reuse even easier. We are confident in our ability to maintain the high quality standards of the originally manufactured products. For your peace of mind, we offer a 1-2 year warranty from the manufacturer on our carpet tiles, and up to 5 years on our reuse chairs and furniture. 

SOURCES:

• https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/iphone/iPhone_16_Pro_and_iPhone_16_Pro_Max_PER_Sept2024.pdf
• https://www.pca.state.mn.us/pollutants-and-contaminants/volatile-organic-compounds-vocs#:~:text=and%20environmental%20concerns-,Exposure%20to%20VOC%20vapors%20can%20cause%20a%20variety%20of%20health,are%20suspected%20or%20proven%20carcinogens.