The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) establishes new ecodesign requirements and aims to promote the circular design of products. Priority is given to high-impact products including furniture. Starting with five different types of furniture (armchair, sofa, table, chair and pouf), the project focused on finding alternative material solutions to promote circularity in products.
Together with the company’s designers, the design of the new products was carried out by comparing different circular materials and taking into consideration the technical and performance characteristics of the products. During the design phase, the choice of materials considered the entire life cycle of the products as well as the disassemblability and reparability of certain components.
Material comparisons and the evaluation of end-of-life scenarios resulted in a circularity rate between 18% and 43%. A recycling rate of over 62% was achieved for all five products.
The circularity measurement activity was carried out with Matrec’s CircularTool and was based on the principles and requirements of the main regulations concerning the circular economy and, in particular, with respect to the specification developed by Matrec in cooperation with Bureau Veritas.