Thousands of tons of very good sofas are thrown away every year.
Can\'t give the family who wants them. Why not?
In a large warehouse, the chocolate-brown sofa sat down with frustration, looked sad and rejected, and the scattered cushions were scattered.
It was sent to John Lewis\'s Surrey warehouse for disposal by previous owners and replaced by a good new model.
A hopeful Toby binzcliff from Kingston Community Furniture charity said: \"Its condition is absolutely perfect, it provides cheap household goods for low-income people, when he lifted the mat and rolled it over in the lining.
But the biggest problem is
Is there a fire safety label?
\"The fire safety label is the root of his life.
Since 1988, the introduction of furniture and furniture (Fire)(Safety)
It is stipulated that all sofas sold in the UK must be treated as fire-fighting
Chemical and display labels to prove this.
There is no benefit without labels.
\"This is the moment of truth,\" Bintcliffe added . \".
\"I think we might have one,\" he said . \" He sat on the printed label under the seat cushion and then his voice was disappointed. \"No -
Just cleaning instructions.
This is a familiar story.
The charity calculates that more than 50% of the sofas they can send to their new home have to be abandoned because they don\'t have the right label.
He pointed to the corpse and said, \"This is where the fire label is . \".
It seems to have been deliberately removed.
\"So this is a very good, three.
We couldn\'t use the perfect seating sofa because the fire tag was torn off.
According to the market intelligence agency Mintel, the sofa is by far the most purchased furniture in the UK.
In the past three years, about 28% of Britons have bought one, which means an average of one will be replaced every 11 years or so.
The UK spent 3 pounds last year.
6bn on sofa and other upholstered furniture-
According to Mintel, it has risen by 14% since 2010.
The housing boom has boosted sales, with sales expected to grow another 25% over the next five years. But some 1.
6 million tons so-
In Britain, a large amount of garbage is thrown away every year, 42% of which are furniture.
According to the Royal Association of Arts, manufacturing and business incentives (RSA)
More than half of this waste can be re-doneused -
But at present, only 17% of the sofas are renewed.
Use, which means a lot of pointless tip tours.
In addition to waste, this means additional taxes to cover the cost of disposal, which also costs the environment.
It is estimated that
You can save 1 ton by using one ton of sofa.
5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions under the Convention against Corruption
British waste Working Group.
Instead of being re
In a recent report called \"rearranging furniture\", RSA said that the old sofa is likely to be landfill.
\"Most manufacturers are designing sofas for the look and for the sake of quick sales and for the sake of cheap, sell as fast as possible.
\"This is a model that stacks them up very high and sells them cheaply, which is encouraged by our economic model,\" said Lucy Doblin of RSA . \".
\"We want the manufacturer
Think not only about the way they make things, but also about the way we buy things and consume them.
\"This is a resonance of Kingston Community Furniture.
When charities were not overwhelmed by the UN
Its staff removed the old sofa and sold wood and metal for recycling.
On December 11, at 17: 00 GMT, listen to the story on the afternoon of Radio 4, or listen again on iPlayerThe movie Survivor Sofa Story. The iPlayer will be on the mat of 15 December
When Bintcliffe and his colleagues were so busy
This is a lot of times-
Despite the good condition of the sofa, it ended up in a landfill.
It cannot even be given away by law.
Bintcliffe told me, \"We are in this situation every day,\" when we relax (
Very comfortable)
Sofa in warehouse yard
\"It\'s a pity.
\"This raises some problems.
Why was the fire safety label torn off?
Why throw away a sofa that looks only a few years old?
Why is it that just because a fragile label is lost, someone who needs a good sofa like this is rejected?
\"People think these labels are not beautiful,\" Bintcliffe said . \".
\"They don\'t usually get put in the best places --
Under the mat in front, they turned out and blocked the way.
People don\'t know they are important.
\"Adrian Collins, boss of Bintcliffe, agrees that the public knows little about the legal significance of fire safety labels.
Retailers need to do more to inform customers, he said.
\"They need to explain to them that if they buy a new sofa, they want something wise to happen to it when they run out, and then they need to open the fire tag, don\'t tear them off because they find them offensive or unacceptable to some extent.
\"RSA, together with waste management firm Suez, has convened a group of designers and furniture charities, leading retailers such as Surrey County Council and Ikea, to seek ways to make the sofa industry more sustainable.
They even made a movie called the Survivor Sofa Story, which will be released on the iPlayer on December 15.
An obvious solution, RSA said, is to make simple changes to the design, location and fixation of fire safety labels on sofas.
These labels often seem to be an accidental afterthought, loosely and carelessly glued to random locations, drifting around in a way that seems to almost invite customers to cut them off.
Source: Ella Doran said the British government is clear that many furniture companies are not really considering the designers who encourage their future life after customers use up their sofas and participate in the RSA/Suez program.
\"It\'s about us all thinking a little more and caring a little more.
Imagine if the idea really permeates the industry.
This will be different.
The designer has a job to do, which is to think about the materials we use and how we can be more responsible for them.
Dolan decided to put his words into action.
When she heard that eight old Terrance Conland couches were thrown away, she decided to save them from the scrap pile and then re-use them.
This week, the first one of the sofas was re-opened
Daniel Edwards and his uncle Derek set up the pads at a seminar in London, and the BBC followed the transformation process.
Doran said the aim was to present the sofa at the furniture design show to raise awareness of the old sofa that can be reusedborn, phoenix-
Like the same as the new one instead of being wasted.
The sofa was even covered by the interior decorative fabric she designed made of recycled material, which Camilla fabric made specifically for the project.
So how willing is the furniture industry to help reduce the number of sofas sent to landfill sites?
According to James Bell of the Furniture Industry Research Association, which represents all major manufacturers, the industry is starting to encourage re-entryuse.
He said the problem with fire safety labeling was partly due to old regulations that have not changed since 1980
People pay less and less attention to environmental issues.
\"Our members are certainly open to the idea of finding practical solutions to simplify potential redesignuse,\" he says.
\"The industry will actively address these issues and first look at better ways to secure fire safety labels on products to facilitate recovery after the end of life.
\"He agrees that retailers can also do more to encourage customers if they want their sofas to be re-labeled as fire safety
Be used by others in the future.
But Shang is more outspoken.
The level of waste is shocking, she said, and more work should be done to reduce waste.
\"It seems like a very easy thing to solve,\" she said . \".
\"However, it is no one\'s responsibility to fix it, so it does not happen.
\"There is a new exhibition about Freud\'s work.
It has a very important sofa.
How does this sofa change everything? Listen to Andrew boford\'s story on Radio 4\'s PM at 17: 00 on Friday, or listen to your inbox again on iPlayerSubscribe.
