What Happens When You Send Your Couch to a Furniture Recycling Program?
Creating closed loop, circular solutions for furniture waste in the design industry remains an aspiration. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans throw out more than 12 million tons of furniture (sofas, tables, chairs, and mattresses) every year—this is a 450% increase since 1960. The ever growing efflux of furniture waste is the direct result of the fast furniture phenomenon, a counterpart to fast fashion which the apparel industry has grappled with since, at least, the late-20th century. Similar to fast fashion, fast furniture is made using poor-quality materials and offered at accessible price points. In addition to inferior materials, deluges of ever-changing design trends and a burgeoning focus on home decor on Instagram and TikTok during the pandemic have created the perfect conditions for the rapid growth of fast furniture and knockoffs. For the average consumer, repairing, reselling or donating furniture is much more of a logistical nightmare than it would be for apparel. So how do we drastically minimize the amount of furniture waste heading to landfills every year? AD article April 2023
FloorFound has been leading the charge for furniture recycling by building a returns model that incentivizes recommerce for some of the most trusted furniture brands at scale. (Partners include Burrow, Sabai Design, Floyd, Joybird, EQ3, 1stDibs, and more.) Taking a cue from the apparel industry, the recommerce company has been harnessing consumers’ growing interest in the circular economy. “Apparel proved there is a market of buyers that will choose the sustainable option, and they are growing and showing up for circular options,” says Lisa Roberts, chief marketing and product officer at FloorFound.
Despite being new to the market, FloorFound has made significant strides as a sustainable alternative to sending furniture to landfill. (To date, the company has diverted 450,000 pounds of oversized items from landfill.) In 2021, FloorFound tripled their client base, nearly doubled the number of oversized items sold and shipped in each consecutive quarter, and helped retailers achieve significant revenue growth that averaged a 50% gross recovery rate for all resale items managed through their platform and programs.
Where the traditional end of life for furniture looks like outlets, liquidation, or landfills, FloorFound’s turnkey framework enables brands who partner with them to retain upwards of 2–3.5x any revenue they would have received from liquidation while maintaining control over customer experience and data. This experience also builds trust for both brands and consumers who utilize FloorFound. Lisa notes that while many consumers don’t trust secondhand sales channels like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, “having a brand [partner] associated with the sales channels drives trust.”
With more brands using sustainability messaging, including terms like circularity, to sell more product, consumers are caught between the option to invest in quality pieces and overpriced furniture that has been “marketed exceptionally well,”.
Diverting materials from landfill (and waterways) at all costs is an urgent need, but the business of furniture retailers is to produce and sell goods. Extending life cycles of products is the common consideration for most brands, but this would require a reduction of the materials that are needed to produce net new products. Until a circular solution emerges to fight furniture waste, investing in pieces that will last, adapting to changing tastes, and finding new life on recommerce platforms might be the best solutions for us as consumers and the furniture that serves as an extension of our homes. The future of furniture recycling is fueled by the power of community.