Fit for Office (FFO), the national stewardship approach to address and divert commercial furniture from landfill that GECA, Edge Environment and the Global Product Stewardship Council (GlobalPSC) are developing for Australia, is entering a critical development phase.
The consortium has coordinated with industry stakeholders to complete a Material Stocks and Flows Analysis through an online survey and direct consultation. This data will provide a foundation for economic and environmental analysis, business case development and scheme design, so stakeholder engagement and cooperation are crucial.
Save the date!
GECA and the FFO consortium invite you to attend our speaker panel session How industry is tackling office furniture waste through a government-supported project – Fit For Office held at the Sydney Build event, ICC Sydney on 2 June 2022 at 1:20 pm – 2:20 pm.
Join our panellists to explore everything you need to know about FFO, the emergent product stewardship project supported by the federal government’s National Product Stewardship Investment Fund (NPSIF). Gain insights on how furniture must contribute to our vision of a low carbon built environment and why radical change to the way we design, procure and manage furniture is required.
The panel session will cover the latest information on furniture use and replacement impacts for building managers and tenants, how design and custody are co-dependent in a low carbon future, and how the FFO project is tying all this together.
We will also be convening after the speaker panel session in a workshop room with our FF0 Furniture Working Group members, a group comprised of some of Australia’s leading furniture manufacturers and guest speakers. We are opening doors to all interested stakeholders to partake in a collaborative series of exercises that will shape the program’s future. Join us to contribute your ideas and insights to program design, so we can design an efficient program addressing the needs of its users. If you are interested in participating, please contact Jessica Mutton at GECA to find out how.
FFO development began in mid-2021 with support from the building industry, commercial furniture manufacturers and importers, underpinned by an Australian Government grant. The FFO consortium is researching and designing options for a stewardship scheme that supports landfill diversion, reuse and repair, design considerations, enhanced recycling methodologies and improved social outcomes to drive responsible management of commercial furniture in Australia.
According to the Independent Chair of FFO’s Working Group, Blake Lindley, “This project is crucially important to the green building agenda. Over a commercial building’s lifetime, waste (tonnes) from refurbishment is double the amount of daily operational waste and recycling generated, and the embodied energy of new and replaced furniture exceeds the total operational energy consumed by the building.
“More imaginatively managing commercial furniture and fitout for a low carbon future must be an immediate priority for building owners, architects, tenants and suppliers alike. Working with Australia’s leading furniture suppliers, FFO is on track to deliver a stewardship model that creates new industry, innovation and circular economy that will be cornerstone to our low carbon buildings of the future.”
When announcing the project funding, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management, the Hon Trevor Evans MP, said, “When it comes to commercial furniture, we’re talking about a large amount of both textile and plastic waste across the lifecycle of these products from storage and delivery through to the actual components in the furniture. We’re excited to get behind this new scheme which focuses on waste streams that are priorities for our government.”
The project consortium will be providing regular updates to all interested stakeholders over the project term. To keep up to date on the development of FFO please click here or scan the QR code below.
