The Social Benefits of Furniture Reuse in the Circular Economy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55845/joce-2026-41261Keywords:
Circular Society, Furniture Reuse, Reuse, Non-profit Organizations, Social Benefit, Cross-disciplinary ResearchAbstract
Furniture is important for the circular economy (CE), given large volumes of resources used in the global furniture industry, and the bulky waste created when furniture is disposed. Innovations to make furniture more circular include new product design and business models, yet the reuse of furniture is often overlooked, and has additional benefits beyond environmental and economic impacts. This study draws on insights from semi-structured interviews undertaken in two separate studies, one pursued in Scotland studying the transition to a CE in the Scottish context, the other based in Chicago (USA), to identify the social impacts of furniture reuse through non-profit organizations. We identify societal benefits of furniture reuse which contribute to people’s and society’s wellbeing and health, in addition to employment and training opportunities. In bringing together insights from two separate studies centred on furniture reuse we provide empirical evidence of social impacts of the CE experienced at a smaller scale, and highlight the value of working across academic disciplines to bring insights from different perspectives into conversation with contemporary debates in the CE.
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Data Availability Statement
Data created for the study based in Scotland are available on request from the lead author. Data created for the study based in Chicago is confidential.
The project OSF website is https://osf.io/9bv7n/
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Copyright (c) 2026 Alice Hague, Euan Hague, Kelby Bosma, Tami Wooldridge, Fiona Bender, Laura Kolar, Kathryn Colley, Phoebe Somervail, Tony Craig (Author)
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