A snippet of Circular Economy News - Ella helps rescue a sofa at the GREAT RECOVERY DESIGN RESIDENCY for SITA

As part of her ongoing commitment to the Great Recovery Project of the RSA, Ella has just participated in the Great Recovery's latest design residency - below film maker Paul Wyatt's short documentary about the action-packed 10 day residency, that involved trips to waste sites, Ikea, Reuse centres, and tear down workshops at the FabLab in London. 

SITA is, in its own words, 'a recycling and resource management company with a vision. We want to live in a society where there is no more waste, a society where waste materials are reused, recycled or recovered for their energy content.' (http://www.sita.co.uk/) 

If you have trouble with the video below - here's the direct link to vimeo: https://vimeo.com/121566784




And here is how the Great Recovery sums it all up on their blog: 

'In December 2014 the participants in the latest Great Recovery Design Residency, commissioned by SITA, hauled a sofa from a skip at the SITA Community Recycling Centre in Leatherhead. It was in excellent condition but missing its crucial fire label, resulting in it being relegated to landfill rather than sent for resale.

Our Design Residencies enable designers to experience first hand the end of life implications of the products they create, and the systems that reinforce those implications. This short documentary follows the journey of the sofa and the experiences of Ella Doran, Kirsty Ewing, Xenia Moseley and Sarah Johnson as they set out to rethink and redesign bulky items for a more circular economy.

According to WRAP, approximately 1,590,000 tonnes of bulky waste was disposed of in the UK during 2010-11. Of this bulky waste, around 42% consisted of furniture. WRAP also estimates that 32% of this waste (by weight) is reusable in its current condition.

Film: Paul Wyatt (http://www.paulwyatt.co.uk)'

WRAP stands for Waste Reduction And Prevention and you can find out more about them at http://www.wrap.org.uk/.