The National Furniture System Consortium, FederlegnoArredo and the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) signed the programme agreement on 10 April in the halls of Rho Fiera, on the occasion of the Salone del Mobile (Furniture Fair), which kicks off a preparatory test period in view of a future extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for the furniture sector. The aim is to manage the end-of-life of furniture in a sustainable way, reducing the loss of economic and environmental value that occurs when these high quality materials become waste. 

The agreement, strongly desired by FederlegnoArredo member companies, was signed by MASE Deputy Minister Vannia Gava, FederlegnoArredo and CNSA President Claudio Feltrin, and Maria Porro, President of Assarredo and on the Consortium's Board of Directors, together with MASE Circular Economy General Manager Luca Proietti.

Pictured from left, Luca Proietti, Claudio Feltrin, Vannia Gava and Maria Porro

New operational strategies 

The path, as established by manufacturers and the Ministry, envisages two phases: the first will be dedicated to sample analyses in four significant territorial areas, such as Milan, Treviso, Naples and Bari, to identify the current methods of managing waste from furniture and other furnishing products in use, and to draw up a summary of the indicative findings at national level. 

The second will be dedicated to consultation with representative associations at a national level (ANCI, suppliers of raw materials and semi-finished products, manufacturers of furniture and other furnishing products, distributors and managers of waste deriving from the use of such goods) to consolidate the data collected and design new operational strategies for the future.

A concrete commitment for the future 

The project, launched just one year ago on the occasion of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, thus continues its path of growth and consolidation, establishing itself as a strategic point of reference for the sector, with 26 founding companies generating a turnover of more than 2.5 billion euros. From the outset, the aim has been to look at the possible introduction of extended responsibility for furniture products as a strategic opportunity that corresponds to the transformation and development objectives of this sector. 

As Deputy Minister Vannia Gava emphasised, ‘today we are finally signing the first concrete act with which we are launching an experimental phase that will lay the foundations for an innovative EPR system and achieve another great circular economy result within one of the most important supply chains for the country's economy’. 

Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo and the Consortium, also celebrated the result, explaining how the agreement with the ministry is not only ‘a great satisfaction, but represents a fundamental step towards strengthening the wood-furniture supply chain that is making a concrete commitment for the future’.

A strategic opportunity 

Maria Porro, President of Assarredo and a member of the Consortium's Board of Directors, said: ‘This moment represents a strategic opportunity that transforms extended producer responsibility into an engine of innovation and circularity, to the benefit of companies and the entire supply chain. 

ANCI, too, is in favour of the programme agreement between MASE and the National Furnishing System Consortium, as is evident from the words of President Gaetano Manfredi, who emphasises that the project goes ‘in the perfect direction of the objective that municipalities have of improving waste collection with an appropriate use of secondary materials, so that waste becomes a resource’.