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CIRCULÉIRE NON-MEMBER CASE STUDY

COMPANY: AHREND

WEBSITE: AHREND.COM

SECTOR: BUILT ENVIRONMENT

PUBLISHED: 27 JUNE 2025

TAGS: BUILT ENVIRONMENT, FURNITURE, CIRCULAR BUSINESS MODELS, CIRCULAR DESIGN, REUSE

In a Nutshell - Votechnik.png

About Ahrend Furniture

Ahrend, established in 1896, is an international leader in office furniture and space solutions, committed to delivering vitalising workspaces. Ahrend furniture is designed to optimise employee’s experiences with the focus on stimulating health, wellbeing, and productivity in workspaces.


The Challenge

As educational levels improve and the service industry expands, so will the number of individuals with formal office positions, causing a growth in office space and furnishings (Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2021). Although this benefits people’s livelihoods, it has a negative influence on the environment by increasing waste. In Europe, 10.78 million tonnes of furniture waste is discarded yearly (Forrest et al., 2017), which is the approximate weight of 53,900 adult blue whales. Only 10% of that furniture is recycled, while 80% - 90% is incinerated or ends up in landfills (Forrest et al., 2017). Producing the average piece of furniture emits 47 kilogrammes of CO2, which is comparable to burning nearly 20 litres of petrol (Lai, 2023).


The Circular Solution

In the 1990s, Ahrend was involved in the development of Ecodesign, the European guideline for environmentally-friendly product design. Since then their new products are designed to be modular, sustainable, repairable and parts are designed to be easily separated for reuse or recycling. In 1994, Ahrend designed the A220 office chair which was was one of the first Ecodesign products in the world. In 2011, they became the first and only Cradle to Cradle company in the furniture industry. Cradle to Cradle is a global certification system which scores brands for their commitment to the circular economy, the reduction of waste and hazardous chemicals, more efficient uses of resources and the reuse of materials, energy efficiency, and social responsibility (Good On You, 2023).


Ahrend now offers their customers a “Furniture as a Service” (FaaS) option, in which they rent their office furniture for a fee, based on the length of time that they require it. Ahrend provides maintenance, storage, and insurance for all products in use during this time. When a customer no longer requires the furniture, it is returned to Ahrend and refurbished, thereby prolonging its life and decreasing virgin material use.


This business model has several advantages. As Ahrend maintains ownership of their product throughout its lifetime they are incentivised to design it for durability and to be easily repairable and remanufactuarable in the future. This in turn reduces waste, CO2 emissions and the need for additional virgin resources. The FaaS business model also ensures the end-of-life of a product is considered right from the early design stages and influences the materials chosen for production, assessing them on their recyclability and lack of toxicity.


Climate Impact

Ahrend lowers CO2 emissions by up to 40% each year by redeploying materials and products. The FaaS model also cuts costs. Consider a new working environment with a total investment value of €45,000 over a time frame of 60 months. If the FaaS model is opted for versus buying, a €6000 savings could be achieved on the end cost (Ahrend, 2023). FaaS makes more financial sense once you consider the savings from maintaining a work environment such as logistics, interest, storage, and maintenance expenses.

Furthermore, Ahrend’s manufacturing process is CO2 neutral, using 100% renewable energy and closed water and energy circuits with heat pumps to reduce its CO2 footprint.


Replicability

Under the Product as a Service (PaaS) business model companies offer their physical product as a service. This model incentivises companies to consider longevity, maintenance, reuse, re-manufacture, and recycling in their product design. All this is done in close collaboration with customers, who become “users” of a service instead of “consumers” of a product. The PaaS model has already been applied to cars, bikes, smartphones, clothes, printers, solar panels, tires, etc.


For example...

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