Solution: Upcycled Wood Furniture. Owner: API’UP. Circular Strategy: Reuse or repurpose.
Description
API’UP carries out upcycling by transforming wood waste into furniture. The materials they use to make the furniture are diverted from recycling centres. Customers can have their old wooden furniture collected by API’UP and then transformed into other furniture such as tables, chairs, and shelves. Customers can also buy wooden furniture from API’UP’s catalogue.
Location
Landes, France.
Scale
Four permanent staff and nine part-time staff.
Potential circular economy impact
The material used for this enterprise are diverted from recycling centres, which reduces greenhouse gas emission that would have been emitted by the recycling process. The enterprise also favours the use of local and national equipment to limit the impact of transport.
What’s involved?
People: Carpenters; designers; collection and delivery team.
Resources: Wood “waste”; machinery for woodwork; workshop; trucks for collection of the wood.
Technology: Any machinery; website to digitise the catalogue and other processes.
Implementation: Train and hire staff; establish an agreement between the company and a recycling centre; collect the waste; treating and transforming the waste into furniture; organising the sales whether online or in the workshop.