A Future without Furniture Waste: The Circular Revolution in Commercial Design

The way we design, use, and dispose of commercial furniture is on the cusp of a transformation. For decades, office fit-outs have followed the same predictable cycle – new furniture arrives, a lease ends, and nearly everything is discarded.

We know that in Australia 95% of all commercial office furniture purchased ends up in Landfill and across the US and Europe, 10 million tonnes of commercial furniture is sent to landfill every year, a staggering loss of resources, craftsmanship, and potential. But what if this wasn’t the way? What if every piece of furniture was designed to stay in circulation, repaired and repurposed rather than replaced?

At Koskela, we wholeheartedly believe that design can be a force for good, and that momentum is growing for seismic change in the commercial design space.

Reimagining Responsibility in Commercial Spaces

At present, our industry operates with an enormous blind spot. While some manufacturers, including ourselves, carry product stewardship obligations, the reality is that very rarely do we get asked to reclaim or repair our furniture at end of life. Once it leaves our warehouse it effectively disappears.

Throughout a tenancy, products are swapped, builders substitute materials, and when a lease ends, furniture is simply left behind, another responsibility for landlords to resolve. There’s no clear system for tracking assets, no seamless way to return them for refurbishment, and no incentive to prioritise longevity over convenience.

But imagine a world where every desk, chair, and workstation carried its own story—a digital product passport accessible via a simple QR code, telling you where it came from, how it was made, and how it could be repaired or rehomed. A world where circularity wasn’t an afterthought, but the foundation of commercial design.

For real change to take hold, we need more than good intentions—we need the right financial and regulatory frameworks to make circularity the most compelling business decision.

1. Shifting the Tax System to Reward Circular Thinking

Today’s tax structure favours disposal. Depreciation schemes encourage businesses to buy new assets, write them off, and replace them. A future-focused approach would reward repair, refurbishment, and leasing models—offering tax credits for extending a product’s life, using recycled materials, and returning assets for remanufacture.

2. Embracing Producer Responsibility as an Industry Standard

A mandatory producer responsibility scheme would ensure that every manufacturer has a stake in the full lifecycle of their furniture. The introduction of asset tracking—with QR-coded product passports—would make it easy for businesses to manage and return their furniture responsibly.

3. Incentivising new business models that embed product stewardship

Product as a service schemes embed product stewardship with ownership remaining with the manufacturer. Tax incentives encouraging companies to participate in product as a service models rather than buying. Rather than furniture becoming ‘waste,’ it would flow seamlessly from one workspace to another, evolving, adapting, and remaining in use for decades.

Designing a Future Where Nothing is Wasted

The commercial design industry has always thrived on innovation, and now, we stand at the edge of one of the most exciting transformations yet. A commercial space that doesn’t generate waste isn’t just a vision—it’s a real and achievable goal. With the right systems in place, circularity will become as natural as great design itself.

The challenge is not whether we can make this shift—but how quickly we can embrace it. Let’s build the future of commercial furniture with intention, ingenuity, and the knowledge that everything we create can have a second, third, or even fourth life.

Sasha Titchkosky
Co-founder
Koskela