Just as data switched from server rooms to cloud based services, we have begun to consider alternatives when furnishing our spaces. Many companies who employ ‘software as a service’ or ‘SaaS’, are applying the same concept when considering workplace furniture. The issue of capital investment has always been there, so what is driving this new way of thinking?

Recycling has long been seen as the answer to climate crisis, and although it has a very important role, we believe it should be considered as a last resort. In a circular economy, value retention is the way forward. We must first consider how to extend the life of products and components.

By offering subscription furniture, we retain ownership, effectively guaranteeing the safe passage of products and components through the economy. We act as conservators, with our main objective being life extension. As furniture passes from subscriber to subscriber, it is assessed for its condition, and should it be required, enters our remanufacturing division to ensure that it is reconditioned back to optimum quality.

Throughout the extended lifetime of a product, many of its original parts will be replaced. If you’re old enough to remember the TV show Only Fools and Horses, you may remember a well-known gag that Trigger had used the ‘same broom’ for twenty years, but it had had seventeen new heads and fourteen new handles. Funny though this sounds, if he’d replaced the broom each time one of its two parts failed, he would have owned 31 of them. Instead, he used the equivalent of half that – quite the achievement. The point being that the lifespan of products and parts can be significantly extended, with a little care and maintenance.

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) set the benchmark for sustainable sourcing over fifteen years ago. Given the temporary nature of the Games, the onus was to buy or hire things that would have a use afterwards. By setting out the sustainability criteria clearly in the procurement process, LOCOG succeeded in getting suppliers and contractors to respond positively. In short, they received the message that sustainability is part of being more efficient, of doing things better. Many parts of the venue, such as the temporary seating, were hired so they could easily be returned and reused after the Games.

And what if a product can no longer be remanufactured to a high standard? That is when we call in the services of Sustain, a recycling centre which like ourselves, is owned by The Senator Group. Because Sustain specialises in recycling furniture, it ensures that as much as possible is returned into the supply chain. Recycled commodities are only available when we put in what we take out, so this helps secure supply of recycled materials for new furniture manufacturing.

The vision for carbon neutrality in business can only be realised through progressive and permanent change. Many furniture manufacturers will believe that this new way of buying is counter to its business objectives, but the most visionary amongst them will see that designing and engineering products for modularity and longevity, together with offering a responsible end-of-life programme to close the loop, is the only way we will secure a sustainable future.