Rype Office demonstrates the value of the Circular Economy by remanufacturing office furniture at half the recommended retail price of new and with less than one third the environmental footprint.
Director Greg Lavery describes the company’s journey to date and ongoing challenges.
Getting Started
Rype Office was the brainchild of Lavery/Pennell, a consulting and venturing firm focussed on sustainable innovation. The concept built on their work developing circular production systems for clients such as Interface, as well as the Next Manufacturing Revolution study examining the potential of remanufacturing (co-authored by Lavery/Pennell, the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing and 2degrees).
While office furniture is often reused and some can be recycled, Lavery/Pennell identified additional value from returning pieces to as-new condition (i.e. remanufacturing) – and further value from doing this multiple times for each piece.
Inspiration for the business also came from The Great Recovery and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation whose pioneering work demonstrated customer interest in more sustainable solutions for durable goods.
Thanks to funding from an RBS Innovation Gateway award and an Innovate UK Innovation Voucher, Rype Office was able to afford assistance from Great Recovery facilitator Mark Shayler, whose furniture experience helped to shape the business.
Refining the Rype Office Concept
To be able to sell remade office furniture at half the RRP of new and one third the environmental footprint, the latest cost-effective technical solutions to resurface and rebuild pieces had to be identified, tested and adopted. One example is chroming, a very toxic process for which Rype found a benign alternative recently developed in Germany. Technologies such as these underpin the quality of Rype Office’s top grade of remade furniture that is in effect indistinguishable from new.
But these technological challenges were not the greatest obstacle: that was, and remains, the misconception in the minds of potential buyers and specifiers that remanufactured goods are of lower quality than new. This exists despite many products such as office photocopiers being currently remanufactured (for example by Xerox, Ricoh and Kyocera) and the British Armed Forces relying on Caterpillar’s remanufactured engines – both far more complex products than furniture.
After much consultation, Rype Office did three things to address this misconception:
- It developed three grades for its remade furniture (A+, A and B) . These allow customers to understand exactly what they are getting for their money and choose the level of finish that they require. Grade A+ is indistinguishable from new even under close scrutiny. Grade B has new upholstery and touch surfaces but may have minor scratches on the base consistent with a piece that has been in use for a year or so.
- It created its own design service. Unfortunately, most architects and interior designers spoken to were unprepared to switch from specifying new furniture. So the team joined forces with an ever-increasing group of talented and enlightened designers to offer a service that can fulfil a design brief alone or in support of other design teams. This also allowed Rype Office to develop its own design offerings, incorporating workflow analysis, staff engagement, workspace footprint reduction, sustainability, wellness and productivity improvements – all creating value for clients beyond furniture savings.
- It became a distributor for new furniture. Working with Orangebox, Senator and other leading manufacturers of furniture that can be easily remanufactured, Rype Office provides new furniture that it can remake for clients over and over, saving them money in the long term. This suits clients who would prefer to start with their own new furniture and then remanufacture it in the future, or when they would like pieces that are new to the market.
Grade A+ Orangebox G64 chair which has been remade. Rype Office price £200 + VAT. New RRP £538+VAT
Rype Office Today
Rype Office is now providing remade furniture to a major bank, a leading university and is in discussion with a range of other companies big and small.
As a pioneer in remaking office furniture it is disrupting the sector: saving money for customers, creating local jobs and reducing the environmental footprint of furniture – including tackling the 300 tonnes per working day of office furniture sent to landfill (source: WRAP estimate for 2012).
Future Challenges
The future success of the company relies entirely on customers who are open to the circular economy to reduce their costs and improve their sustainability. The Rype Office team has enjoyed connecting with like-minded buyers from a range of companies – but needs to connect with a lot more in order to build a viable business that has a tangible impact on waste reduction and job creation.
While the UK government has set a target of 5% of all furniture that it procures to be remanufactured, sadly this remains a voluntary target which many departments are not observing. Given that government procurement represents around 10% of the UK office furniture market, meeting this target would boost the furniture remanufacturing sector while saving the government money, reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, creating local jobs and improving resource security.
A Shared Journey
The Rype Office team are grateful for the enormous support received to date from a range of contributors, including those mentioned above.
In return they are sharing their learnings to help other organisations to develop circular business models, such as one company looking to remanufacture coffee machines.
Rype Office welcomes furniture manufacturers, office clearance companies, designers, buyers and investors to join its circular economy disruption – and share the value being created.
Rype Office hopes to grow and create new jobs, preserve resources, reduce waste and save money for customers in a cost-conscious world. And of course it needs to be profitable to continue – which shows others (including investors) that circular solutions are not just altruistic but also realistic.
