Circular economy provides a promising avenue to create more value in the sector by addressing simultaneously resource constraints, consumer value and profitability challenges. The transition from linear to circular however requires significant changes at micro, meso and macro levels, from innovation at business model and value chain level to the introduction of supporting policy measures.
Precisely for this reason, the Erasmus + FURN360 project has emerged with the aim of developing a European training curriculum through which to implement strategies capable of facilitating the transition from a linear model to a circular model in the habitat sector.
The report ‘Circular Economy in the Furniture Sector: Overview of Current Challenges and Competence Needs’, provides an overview on how the circular economy is currently being implemented within the furniture sector. By focusing on existing practices, challenges and opportunities at the micro-level, the main objective of this report is to identify the necessary skills and competences needed to support the transformation of furniture companies towards a circular economy.
Project partners identified throughout Europe 25 furniture companies active in the circular economy. Interviews, held between March and May 2018 in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Italy and Sweden, allowed to gather insights on the necessary skills and competences needed to develop circular business models relevant for the furniture industry.
Finally, 10 examples of circular furniture cases are presented in the report. Examples show companies from different EU countries that have implemented different actions to work towards the circularity of the company and with specific examples of furniture products that are sustainable.
The authors would like to warmly thank the representatives of the companies that were interviewed during the preparation of this report.
Read the report here.
Fuente: EUROPEAN CLUSTER COLLABORATION PLATFORM