The office furniture sector generates a significant amount of waste. Most of it end up in landfill, even though alternatives such as remanufacturing, recycling, material recovery and reuse are available. Limited data is currently available on end-of-life office furniture management and the associated environmental impacts.
This study focuses on evaluating the environmental impact of remanufacturing office furniture, a practice aligned with the principles of the circular economy. The case study was conducted in partnership with Hydro-Québec and the Centre d'innovation en ébénisterie et meuble (INOVEM). As part of their office redesign project, Hydro-Québec chose to recondition existing cubicles instead of purchasing new furniture. To initiate the project, an inventory of the cubicle components was carried out following disassembly. INOVEM’s team designed two prototypes of refurbished storage units: the rise cabinet and the reprography cabinet. The design process included a material flow analysis and an energy consumption estimate to support the environmental assessment.
The environmental impact of three scenarios was compared using a material and energy flow analysis (MEFA) and a life cycle assessment (LCA). The three scenarios studied include the manufacture of new furniture (conventional pathway), single refurbishment and multiple refurbishments. The LCA is based on seven environmental impact indicators: short and long term climate change, fossil and nuclear resource use, biodiversity impact through land occupation and transformation and water and mineral resource consumption.
Three types of results were obtained from the comparative scenario analysis : material flow report (A1), circularity performance (A2) and environmental assessment (B). The material flow report results show an imbalance with only 8% and 9% of the total material being reused in the recondition cabinets. The circularity performance is also low at 6% and 7%. However, even with modest circularity performance, environmental benefits were observed across each impact indicator. Remanufacture reduces both raw material consumption and waste generation.
Although remanufacture has environmental advantages, the study highlights the need to improve circularity by enhancing eco-design practices upstream and downstream while involving a broader range of stakeholders.
| Date | 6 Feb 2025 |
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| Original language | French |
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| Awarding Institution | - École de technologie supérieure
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| Supervisor | Mathias Glaus (Supervisor) |
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van der Star, I. (Author),
Glaus (Supervisor),
6 Feb 2025Student thesis: Master's thesis › Master in Engineering: Environmental Engineering