Title: Sustainable Furniture to Combat the Growing Waste of Fast Furniture
Product Name: Renkel.
Topic/Problem Description:
Fast furniture is a growing problem in our society. Every year, around 12 million tons of furniture waste ends up in the landfill which ends up being around 4.1 percent of total municipal solid waste. Most of the furniture currently in the dumps were all made within the last 10 – 15 years. This is mainly due to the rise of fast furniture. Fast furniture is defined as furniture that is made quickly and meant to last for a short time. As a result, the amount of furniture waste keeps climbing because it is more convenient to toss out your old coffee table and buy a new one than to spend the time to repair it. We live in a society where so many people are constantly relocating or shifting their home design preferences every year to keep up with the latest trends. Because of this cultural phenomenon, furniture needs to be made quickly and in masses to keep up with this demand. “How can we create a line of sustainable, affordable furniture in our society today to combat the growing waste produced by fast furniture companies?”
Solution:
A line of affordable, sustainable, upgradeable, and user friendly furniture that consists of a chair, desk, coffee table, and an end table. Designed for the everyday user, Renkel features a minimalistic aesthetic to appeal to a large group of users as well as keeping the overall design timeless. Affordable, due to the simple design which allows for parts to be manufactured at a low cost via. injection molding. Sustainable, because of the ocean sourced polypropylene used, which can be taken back and mechanically recycled to produce new parts to prevent waste from entering the landfill. Upgradeable, as in if the user ever wants to swap out a part for a newer version, they can do so. Damaged or worn out parts can be easily replaced with a buyback program to serve as an incentive for users to bring back their old parts in exchange for a huge discount on the new parts. User friendly because all Renkel furniture have a straight-forward, foolproof, hardwareless design that allows for easy assembly as well as disassembly. It is literally as easy as 1…2…3… Renkel furniture serves as an alternative to fast furniture with a reasonable price, a better system in place for unwanted furniture so that no waste ends up in the landfills, and is introducing a new way customers are able to interact with their furniture while shopping for it.
