Circular Economy in the furniture sector
In September 2017, EEB, The European Environmental Bureau, launched a report on Circular Economy in the furniture sector. The furniture sector in EU counts for about 25% of the global production, and 10 million tonnes of furniture are discarded by businesses and households every year. The report presents a range of scenarios including policy measures which offer potential options addressing barriers and advancing circularity across the European furniture sector. One of the main ideas is to define a ‘Green Furniture Mark’ (GFM) – a new A to G rating instrument similar to the EU energy label, with the intention of providing consumers and procurement professionals with clearer information on the environmental and circularity features of furniture products. This rating could be determined by a points style system (similar to the BREEAM approach4 for buildings) using a self-assessment approach but with third party oversight.
The report can be accesses through the EEB website: http://eeb.org/work-areas/resource-efficiency/circular-economy/