Closing the loop

As designers and manufacturers, we firmly believe in our responsibility to ensure that our products uphold the highest standards of sustainability—from the sourcing of raw materials to their eventual recycling and reusability. In line with this principle, we have established protocols and guidelines that inform our decision-making processes and actions.

Circularity represents a departure from the conventional design paradigm of make, use, dispose, shifting towards a model that integrates disposal into the creation of new products. Our strategies revolve around the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle, focusing on minimizing waste production and repurposing materials whenever possible.

We incorporate recycled materials as a key strategy in our circular design approach. Each of our products contains a portion of recycled polyester fiber, determined by the required level of acoustic absorption. Our goal is to maximize recycled content while ensuring optimal acoustic performance. This explains the variation in recycled content percentages, with some products containing a minimum of 80% recycled material and others at 45%. To validate our sustainability claims, our dedicated team calculates the annual usage of recycled polyester, which undergoes independent verification according to ISO 14021 standards.

We recognize the value of the materials at our disposal, which is why our team is constantly striving to maximize the potential of the materials we utilize. We refuse to settle for anything less than excellence and are committed to innovating our sustainable manufacturing and design processes. This effort drives us to create solutions that embody true circularity, addressing the imperative in the construction sector to effectively manage waste. Achieving this goal requires collaboration across our industry, as no single organization can do it alone. By working together with our peers, we can revolutionize how we approach design, the materials we incorporate, and our approach to waste management.

Annually, our manufacturing processes generate less than 3% waste in the form of trims and off-cuts. While we strive to minimize trim waste by optimizing material usage in our designs, some waste is inevitable, given current technology constraints.

Realizing our ability to influence waste generation during production, we conducted extensive testing and research to develop a tailored solution. This effort resulted in pioneering technology that converts acoustic panel trims into PET pellets, which are then moulded into new accessory products.

Integration of this chipper technology in New Zealand and Australia has helped them reduce their waste while finding alternative ways for these pellets to be used. Our plan is to enahnce our operational capacity, increasing the amount of waste we repurpose while expanding this capability into the United States.