Waste Matters
To waste is to use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.
Everything we use in the interior industry potentially becomes “precious waste”. From the very start of any project, we need to plan carefully and consider each element and ask, “what kind of waste do we want it to be?”.
How can we re-use, reduce and recycle to “harvest” these precious resources again and again? Here are 5 ways we can improve:
W: World Focused
A: Art and Antiques
S: Skip Less
T: Talk
E: Energy
W: WORLD FOCUSED
We can be world focused and play a part in the sustainable circular economy not the take make waste economy. We can do this by thinking about the whole life cycle of the project, look for natural or recycled materials that are recyclable or compostable.
Natural
E.g. Organic Cotton and hemp are inherently fire retardant and biodegradable and linen uses little water and pesticides in production
organic paint with minimal VOCs will compost naturally and not pollute our waters
natural packaging which can be composted or packaging containers that can be returned to be reused
Recycled
100% recycled where possible
Eg RPET (fabric made from 100% recycled plastic)
Eg Econyl (carpet made from recycled fishing nets)
Some tiles will have a 40% recycled content: Grestec, Domus and Parkside tiles have a search button for recycled content
Eg Smile plastics make work surfaces are made from recycled white goods
An article by Remy Mishon in House & Garden Sept 2024: “Surface value” lists surfaces made from recycled products
N.B. ideally it needs to be made from post-consumer waste rather than post production waste, although post-industrial waste is a good use of scraps from factory floor
E.g. carpet underlay made from 100% recycled post-consumer carpet
Ethical Stone Company will take your site waste and make into a terrazzo for you.
Recyclable
“Recycling a plastic wool blend is like trying to take the egg of a cake”
Use carpet that is 100% natural with jute backing that can be laid not stuck
Or a carpet which is 100% made of PP so it can be recycled as such
Source new furniture that can be disassembled, repaired with spare parts rather than recycled in the future, as this will use more energy and resources.
“Colin and Hecht believe that circularity means more than just planning for an object's end of life; it should also mean ensuring the object stays in use as long as possible.” Dezeen interview
As you plan your project, look for likeminded companies with environmental accreditation, aiming for a cradle-to-cradle approach where products never go to waste.
So, source from Bcorp and Cradle-to-cradle companies and those with a genuine sustainability statement, who are on the journey
Use products with
EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations = lifecycle assessments)
ISO 14001 (environmental management standard)
Ana Rita Martens of IDD is a specialist speaker on this subject (find her on LinkedIn)
A: ART & ANTIQUES
A project designed around beautiful pieces of art adds colour and character, while being flexible.
Art can be the centrepiece of your design but can also be moved in the future.
This will help your work on the basic framework of the house last longer – using pops of colour via art and wall finishes which can be changed by a future owner, avoiding wasteful rip-outs
It’s exciting to support living artists and craftspeople which your clients will enjoy.
Buying antiques or second hand reduces waste by stopping products going to landfill.
Source from Designer Outlets e.g. Haines Collection and company clearance depots
For fabrics, furniture, lighting etc.
Architectural salvage
doors, timber flooring, fireplaces, tiles and lighting with character
e.g. stunning encaustic tiles by Bert and May
these already have embodied carbon e.g. “brown furniture”, so good to rehome
Search or create your own upcycled pieces
Tap into Upcycling networks to find artists and craftspeople who can reimagine furniture for a project or donate pieces to them that are no longer required, as they are often on the lookout for pieces
House of Upcycling
Black Lion workshop (by Home and Found)
S: Skip Less
Design new work with a view to minimising waste – e.g. using standardised components so that unused offcuts will be avoided
Plan well to eliminate excess
Plan well so mistakes are avoided
Try to keep as much ‘waste’ on site as possible to save unnecessary transport and landfill
Surplus.
Encourage clients to store spare tiles, wallpaper and fabric to allow repair
Buy materials on the understanding the any surplus can be returned
Swatchbox will supply and recycle samples for your projects
Segregate waste on site to make recycling easier
Eg. timber, tiles, white goods, plaster, flooring inc. carpet, furniture
Use waste collection companies with ecological credentials
LITTA Sustainable Junk Removal
Metal, plasterboard, wood, recycled aggregates, concrete, plastic construction and demolition waste. Offer skip hire – none goes to landfill
Welcome anything from one item to 18 cubic yards (one cubit yard = size of one washing machine) within the M25.
The Mattress Recycling People : trusted recycling partner of high street retailers and brands
167,000 tonnes of mattresses go to landfill every year, despite the fact that they contain a high percentage of recyclable material (70-100%)
Talk to your borough and find out if they find homes for them
“When buying new mattresses, be aware of the waste generated by sleep trials” (Jecks Stone of Abode Interiors)
They will collect, sort and recycle textiles into innovative new materials such as Paper Tex and cushion inserts (£65). Paper tex requires natural fibres, whereas synthetic fibres are used to create new materials and cushion inserts. Recycled fibres are available to purchase from their website. They offer a shedding service so you can repurpose your textile waste (costs £10 a kilo )
Make use of Reuse Network
Mine is Groundwork & Rework
They employ people affiliated to the charity Emmaus to repair white goods, then sell them on the London Community Resource Network
Will take your leftover paint and use it to help local community projects
Palette reuse: donate to local garden community gardens to make into planters
Waste from electrical and electronic equipment is free to recycle (WEEE)
Will collect old lighting and electrical goods, for free and repairs and reuses it where possible and if not recycles it
Will “recycle, repair, upgrade” and demystify sustainable lighting for designers
Spark and Bell and John Cullen, CTO etc are British firms that are all members of the LIA Lighting Industry Association (use to source genuinely sustainable lighting companies)
Rechargeable lighting
This can be useful when you want to add a wall light and don’t want to chase it into the wall. Pooky
Restore as much as possible
Painting and rug restoration offered by fine art-restoration
Wallpaper restoration offered by Allyson McDermot
Reupholster sofas instead of sending them to landfill
Follow Delyth Fetherstone-Dylke for traditional methods
Avoid treating fabrics with toxic FR chemicals, and back with naturally fire-retardant fabrics like hemp, and join Delyth and IDD in lobbying the government to change these rules
Furniture makes up just under half of bulky waste, much of which can be repaired and reused
Where e.g. an old foam sofa should no longer be off-gassing too much, and if well covered will be less hazardous than sending it to local tip whence it will be incinerated.
Be careful not to remove any fire retardant (FR) treated labels; which may prevent a piece of furniture being resold.
Donate as much as possible or sell on: find a new home : cradle-to-cradle
Clients love knowing that their old unwanted products have gone to new homes
Use Facebook marketplace, Freegle, eBay, Freecycle
Please consider donating lovely pieces to Charity shops
They will take your unwanted furniture and give it to Healing Homes for women who have suffered abuse.
T: TALK
Engage your clients from the off set to be excited and invested in sustainable design.
Oblige builders and sub-contractors to cooperate in waste minimisation as part of their contract.
Investigate where your waste goes. Southwark and Lewisham reclying depots are extremely effective
Create your own address book of companies you rate.
Keep up the conversation, and make sure you are well educated and know your EPDs from your ESGs!
Spread the word and add momentum to this movement, don’t keep any secrets to your chest!
E: ENERGY
Over the lifetime of a house the heating and water use is large.
Encourage the installation heat pumps in all projects.
Add wall, ceiling and window insulation which reduces the rate of transmission of energy loss.
Aim for low U values (highly insulating)
This will add value to the property, and save money for the client in the long term
I favour hemp insulation as it is naturally fire-retardant, is a joy to handle and doesn’t attract moths (NB my old PIR roof insulation was recently eaten by an ant infestation!)
Hemspan and Indinature
Encourage rainwater harvesting with sustainable urban drainage systems
Use Waste Water Heat Recovery (WWHR) attachments
e.g. ShowerSave& Zypho
Decorative water buts by Celtic Sustainables
And SuDs planters will store water and replenish your plants
Encourage green roofs, which conserve energy via insulating as well as increasing biodiversity
Try and source products with a low energy use, who have installed renewable energy or who off-set their carbon footprint
Rapture and Wright uses photovoltaic panels to power their workshops
Fermoie have installed water-saving machines to print their fabrics
Bette Baths uses renewable energy and offsets the energy required to fire their kilns
Source local items where possible to minimise transport
Clients will appreciate shorter lead-times as well.
Support companies who have invested in electric transport (sometimes the largest part of a product’s carbon footprint is the travel to the consumer within the UK itself), and off-set their energy by powering their factories with renewables
I like to buy British, but some countries have native crops and materials, which if made into the product on site and shipped do not have too much of a carbon footprint; and support local village communities and businesses.
Bamboo from China
Sisal from the far east and Brasil
Brass from India
Cork from Portugal
RESOURCES
Books and helpful links:
“Old House Eco Handbook”, Marianne Suhr & Roger Hunt, (p32-33) waste check list
“Substantiable Interior Design”, Chloe Bullock
Apply the same principles he applies to fashion industry and his love of craft
Retrofit academy CIC
South Thames Colleges group “short course in waste management” online, or in person at Merton or Tooting
TED talk by Ken Webster “Circular Economy” Oct 2011
Associations
ACAN (architects climate action network https://www.architectscan.org
IDD (interior design declares) and BIID (British institute of interior designers)
Numerous resources, networking and “sustainable specifying guide”
AECB https://aecb.net Association for environment consciencious building
ASPB(Alliance for Sustainable building products) provide address book for suppliers and CPDs online
Directories:
Firstplanit: online planning and sourcing software:
2050 materials: online planning and sourcing software
Dezeen: articles on sustainability
Springwise: online journalism and library of international articles on emerging ecological developments and products
Image credit to Oliver Bishop-Young