Driving Circularity in Office Interiors: INDEED Innovation’s Role in the CEO Project
The Urgent Case for Circularity in Office Furniture
Did you know that the EU discards 10.5 million tons of office furniture every year, with most of it ending up in landfills or incineration? Despite ongoing sustainability conversations, the office furniture sector remains overwhelmingly linear. Currently, 80-90% of EU office furniture becomes waste, with only a small fraction ever recycled or reused. This not only represents a significant loss of resources but also a missed economic opportunity, as transitioning to a circular furniture economy could create up to 160,000 additional jobs and generate EUR 4.9 billion by 2030 (EEB, 2017).
Several factors drive the necessity to move the industry forward:
- Emissions: Building construction and operations account for nearly 30% of Northern Europe’s emissions. Office interiors are a major contributor.
- Resource Efficiency: Most new furniture contains limited recyclable materials, and short product lifespans accelerate environmental impact.
- Regulatory Drivers: European and international policies, such as the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and the Ecodesign Directive, are setting new ambitions for product longevity, transparency, and waste reduction.
Yet, the path to circularity is complex. To realize systemic change, industry players must not only redesign products for durability and recyclability but also shift mindsets, build new business models, and foster unprecedented collaboration across the value chain.
About the CEO Project
Launched in 2023, the Circular Economy Office (CEO) project is a transnational, EU-funded initiative under Interreg North Sea Region, uniting 13 partners across six countries. The CEO project is pioneering this shift through a €4.1 million program running until Mid-2026, with a clear focus: accelerating the sector’s systems change towards a circular, resource-efficient office furniture industry.
CEO’s approach combines:
- Multi-stakeholder collaboration across policy, business, research and strategy
- Pilots in procurement, skills, new business models, and digital tools
INDEED Innovation’s Role: Bridging Vision & Implementation
INDEED Innovation is proud to serve as a key partner in the CEO project, applying our deep expertise in systemic innovation, circular design, and strategic business transformation for circularity. Our ongoing contribution centers on building actionable tools and frameworks that help scale up transformation towards circularity and enable measurable progress for both providers and users of office furniture.
1. Circular Maturity Indicator (CMI) – Measuring What Matters
Transformation starts with understanding where you are and what matters most. That’s why INDEED, together with partners, developed the Circular Maturity Indicator (CMI).
- Practical Self-Assessment: Tailored for both manufacturers (providers) and organizations (users), the CMI guides companies through nuanced evaluation across repairability, recycled content, business models (leasing/take-back), traceability, and end-of-use management.
- Robust & Industry-Specific: Grounded in key standards and insights (EU regulation, ISO 14001, DIN SPEC 68008, interviews with CEO partners and industry leaders), the CMI reflects real-world challenges and benchmarks in the sector.
- Actionable Output: Using a graded scoring system, companies receive a clear maturity rating—ranging from Beginner to Trailblazer—accompanied by targeted recommendations to advance their circularity in design, procurement, and operations.
Why it matters: Until now, circular progress in office furniture has been hard to measure, compare, or communicate. The CMI provides a universal language and roadmap for all value chain actors to drive real progress, not just box-ticking.
2. Circular Economy Office Ecosystem Map
INDEED developed a detailed Ecosystem Map visualizing the full journey of office furniture, from raw material sourcing, manufacturing, sales, and use, through to collection, repair, refurbishment, and recycling.
“These solutions will go way beyond the office. I believe they have huge potential to start real circular change across industries and countries everywhere.”
Eunji Park, Executive Director and Project Lead
- Highlights Interconnections: Reveals barriers, leverage points, and key actors where interventions can have the most impact.
- Supports Stakeholder Alignment: Provides a shared foundation to design circular business models, policy incentives, and collaborative partnerships.
- Enables Policy and Business Action: Guides decision-makers toward system-wide solutions.
Lessons & Opportunities: Moving From Niche to Normal
The CEO project and INDEED’s work together underscores both the challenges and the enormous potential for circularity in office interiors:
- Barriers Remain: Inconsistent service availability, fragmented value chains, high refurbishment costs, and a lack of robust inventory systems are real obstacles.
The bottom line: Building circularity in the furniture industry is not just a technical exercise. It is a strategic transformation requiring measurement, collaboration, and innovation at every step.
- Business Model Innovation: Subscription-based models (Furniture-as-a-Service) and digital platforms for take-back, resale, and refurbishment (e.g., Nornorm, Ahrend, Reseat) show how circularity can be viable, scalable, and desirable for both customers and companies.
- Collaboration Is Critical: Cross-sector alliances, shared data standards (e.g., Digital Product Passports), and transparent tracking are needed to mainstream circular solutions.
Join Us on the Journey
INDEED Innovation is committed to supporting the CEO vision – translating insight into action, and helping organizations benchmark, plan, and accelerate their transition.
Interested in benchmarking your own circular performance?
Contact us or visit the CEO project website to access the CMI and learn how you can be part of the transformation.
Follow the CEO project (Circular Economy Office)
