From Waste Paper to Furniture
(WPF)
Start date: Dec 7, 2012,
End date: Dec 6, 2014
PROJECT
FINISHED
The purpose of the From Waste Paper to Furniture-project (WPF) is to introduce storage furniture made of waste paper to the market. Using waste paper as raw material for the furniture is both innovative and environmentally friendly in comparison with existing furniture which are usually made of particle boards. The objective is to produce these new products with a quality that equals existing furniture, using a production process that reduces energy, CO2-impact and material consumption, and finally to create storage furniture that is 100% recyclable.To be able to produce storage furniture made of waste paper a completely new machine and complete production line will be installed at SWT Paper ABs site in Varberg, Sweden. Current production plants for producing furniture of particle boards needs a space of approximately 20 000 m2. In the WPF plant, a 25 meter long machine will replace the whole process and lead to an investment cost of 1/3 in comparison to a traditional furniture production site. Using waste paper as raw material and producing recyclable furniture means that the WPF-process is efficient from a a life-cycle perspective. The WPF process is a cradle-to-cradle solution meaning that old waste paper furniture will, after been used as furniture by consumer, be able to be used as raw material for new furniture, or other waste paper products.Expected outputs and results from WPF are;A new recyclable product in the form of storage cube furniture made of waste paper will be available at IKEA stores throughout Europe. Estimated production will be 5 Million square meters annually and the market at the end of project is estimated to 40 Million Euro.Another product in the storage furniture segment (yet to be decided) will be introduced to the market at the end of the project.Annual energy consumption will be reduced with approximately 50% (600 000 kWh) compared to producing the same number of units in the current process for storage furniture.The annual CO2-impact will decrease with 68% or close to 25 000 tons annually.Using waste paper as raw material instead of particle board will reduce material consumption with 78% or a little more than 46 000 tons annually.
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