Italy Furniture-makers Band Together to Create Circular Economy
MILAN — Italian furniture companies are gearing up to help innovate the sector’s supply chain and create a circular economy as a united front.
Dubbed the Extended Producer Responsibility Consortium, the concept was conceived and promoted by FederlegnoArredo and leading furniture companies, with the aim of collectively tackling waste reduction and recycling of its end of life products and more. FederlegnoArredo is the Italian federation of woodworking and furniture industries.
More from WWD
On Wednesday, FederlegnoArredo said that the National Furnishing System Consortium has 15 founding members companies that collectively posted annual sales of about 2 billion euros. New memberships are also in the process of being formalized.
Salone del Mobile.Milano president Maria Porro is a member of the board of directors, as is Roberto Pompa, presidential council of Assarredo, the association of industrial furniture-makers. Pompa is the founder of upscale Italian furniture firm Roda and Porro is also the marketing and communications director of the family’s furniture firm, Porro.
“This is a very important step [that] demonstrates how the sector, which has always been ahead of its time, has decided to get involved, with an approach that starts from the bottom and seizing the opportunity to create an increasingly circular production model,” Porro said in a statement, adding that the consortium will implement its own waste management and reuse system in line with new regulations introduced by the European Green Deal.
The European Green Deal is the European Union roadmap for becoming a climate-neutral continent by 2050.
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.