Crown Workspace launches closed loop wood recycling system

At Crown Workspace, we are pleased to announce that all wood and timber waste from our furniture remanufacturing facility, the Renew Centre, is now retained in the circular economy following our recent closed loop recycling partnership with Pearce Recycling!

Waste prevention has always been a priority in our business operations. We adopt the principles of the circular economy in business decisions, and especially when approaching the management of our own, or our clients’ redundant assets and waste. We are continually working to innovate with our waste streams with the waste hierarchy in mind, as detailed in our Circular Economy Policy. So that we can do so, our sustainability team carry out regular audits of our waste streams to identify improvements we can make to our waste management process, as well as conduct market research on opportunities for innovations, and this has resulted in our latest collaboration.

Whilst we work to minimise the waste produced as a result of the furniture remanufacturing, reupholstering and repair services at our Renew Centre, offcuts of wood are generated through desk resizing and other remanufacturing processes. We already design and make our own low-carbon furniture products from larger offcuts, our partnership with Pearce Recycling now sees all remaining wood and timber waste also remain in the circular economy. A local Hertfordshire recycling company, Pearce Recycling is collecting this material, which is segregated at Crown’s site, processing and sending this waste wood to wood-based material manufacturer, Egger, which produces chipboard panels from recycled wood.

Eleanor Holmes, Sustainability Advisor, Crown Workspace says: “Crown Workspace already purchases Egger recycled wood panels to make new desktops so we are delighted to be able to close this loop through our partnership with Pearce Recycling and see our waste wood come back to us as chipboard panels.”

What is closed loop recycling?

Closed-loop recycling is a process by which a product is recycled back into itself or a similar product again and again, retaining the value and quality of material. In contrast, an open-loop recycling system is a process that breaks down materials and they are created into different products, which sees the value of the materials decline through recycling and eventually end up lower in the waste hierarchy. For instance, an open-loop recycled water bottle could be made into a T-shirt, but a closed-loop recycled water bottle would be made back into a water bottle.

In our case, we have partnered with Pearce Recycling who collect our wood and timber waste. The waste product is processed by them and sent to our wood supplier, who produces it back into the chipboard we buy for refurbishment. Therefore, the wood that we buy is created – in part – by the wood that we could no longer use.

Why is the beneficial?

Closed-loop recycling is a more sustainable solution for waste, it retains the quality and value of the material, with the process creating less degradation of the material and ultimately less waste. It’s the only form of recycling that keeps materials in the circular economy over a sustained period of time.

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