Development of a novel joining and sustainable laminating technology to enable a true cradle to cradle solution for office furniture manufactured from a single material - cardboard (CardOffice)

Office furniture has a short life span with desks for example having an average life of only 5
years. These products are not generally recycled despite most of the materials being
recyclable due to the makeup of the different materials (wood, plastic, metal) with 85% going
to landfill. This represents significant loss of natural resource, payment of landfill tax and lost
opportunity to reuse, recycle and carbon savings.
The CardOffice project will build on the expertise gained by Flute Office in creating a single
material office desk manufactured from 80% recycled paper and 20% sustainably sourced
virgin material to create a range of genuinely cradle to cradle office furniture. To enable us to
do this we require a number of cardboard only joining solutions to enable us to create strong
and easy to manufacture products and a sustainable method of refurbishing the product.
The project will develop the knowhow to enable us to create a full range of truly sustainable
office furniture from a single material which can be easily refurbished. This would have the
benefit of reusing office furniture and avoiding landfill by removing the need to dismantle and
material sorting at end of life.
The first aim will be to determine the critical parameters and metrics for a card to card joining
solution and use this information to create a number of joining solutions. The second aim will
be to determine the materials and process by which we can refurbish products through
skimming and laminating. Two pieces of experimental furniture will then be designed and
basic prototypes manufactured. These will then be tested and validated against the design
configuration by the Furniture Industry Research Association and evaluated for aesthetics and
practicability by a range of end users.