How Do New Waste Rules Affect Office Chairs? Understanding POPs & Proper Disposal

Sam Coggin • February 1, 2023

Making Sense of the Confusing Environment Agency Guidance

New rules came into effect from 1st January that mean that certain items of unwanted furniture known to contain Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs, must be dealt with differently when they are no longer wanted or when they reach the end of their useful life and require disposal. Current guidance is a bit contradictory and confusing, so here’s a quick run-down to help you understand how it affects you.


The foams and coverings of some upholstered furniture items contain POPs. These are chemicals that are used to give furnishings their fire retardant properties. The manufacture, sale and use of products containing POPs is now banned under The Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007.


At the start of the year, the Environment Agency in England introduced new rules that stipulate what must happen to waste domestic seating that contains POPs.


This is where the confusion starts.


Contradictory guidance


In its official guidance, the Environment Agency tells us that ‘waste domestic seating is any item of seating of a household type from households or businesses that is waste.’


It goes on to list the following examples of items that are affected by the rule change:


  • sofas
  • sofa beds
  • armchairs
  • kitchen and dining room chairs
  • stools and foot stools
  • home office chairs
  • futons
  • bean bags, floor and sofa cushions


So that’s domestic seating, of a household type, but that can also arise in business premises, including home office chairs but not commercial office chairs.


You can see why we think it’s confusing for people.


We’ve had it checked with the Environment Agency to get some clarity on proper office chairs, and its position seems to be this: until evidence emerges that says otherwise, assume that any foams and textile covers on commercial office chairs also contain POPs and deal with them accordingly when they become waste.


Why is hasn’t just said this in its published guidance is a bit of a mystery, and you may see us making that point and asking for greater clarity in the media.


What do you have to do with commercial office chairs that are waste?


If you have badly damaged or end-of-life office chairs that you’re discarding, you have to ensure that the POPs materials are destroyed or irreversibly transformed. In practice, this means incinerated.


But don’t panic at the idea of paying a fortune to incinerate entire chairs (even though we’ve seen a number of waste management companies out there telling their clients that’s exactly what has to happen).


Again, having had it checked with the Environment Agency, we can confirm it's acceptable for furniture containing POPs to be broken down so that only the affected components and materials have to be incinerated - everything else can be reused or recycled provided that it is not contaminated with POPs.


We’re already set up for this. Any waste office chairs sent to or collected by us for disposal will be carefully dismantled by hand, and the foams and covers sent for incineration. Everything else will either be used for spares and repairs, or recycled.


Can waste office chairs be refurbished?


This is less clear, and there’s some ambiguity in the published guidance, which tells us that upholstered domestic seating that is waste can only be refurbished if:


  • it can be confirmed the item does not contain POPs
  • all textiles and foam removed are managed as POPs waste and sent for incineration
  • whoever does the refurbishment holds a suitable environmental permit or a T12 waste exemption for manually treating waste


So, we already have the T12 permit and can remove textiles and foams for incineration as if they contain POPs. It's the first requirement that’s confusing - does it mean before or after refurbishment?


We’re going to have this point checked with the Environment Agency and will then update this blog when we know more.


OK, but what about chairs that aren’t waste but we just no longer need?


We love office chairs like this where we can extend their working life and help businesses avoid costly and less environmentally sustainable alternatives.


Which is great, because after (yet more) checks with the Environment Agency, office chairs that are not waste, but may still contain these POPs materials, can be reused. The rules on this are that it only applies to office chairs that are non-waste, which means that the following conditions must be met:


  • it is reused for the same purpose for which it was designed
  • the previous holder intended for it to be reused
  • no more than minor repair is required to it
  • both the previous holder and new holder know at the point of transfer that it does not need more than minor repair
  • if a repair is required, it will be done
  • its use keeps to the law, for example it carries appropriate fire safety labels
  • it is managed as a non-waste – that is, it is not moved or stored in a way that will damage it, for example in a skip with items of waste


We know we can meet these requirements with you, and so will still be collecting or receiving your unwanted, surplus and non-waste office chairs to spruce them up and sell them on!

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The Office Furniture Strategy That's Hiding in Plain Sight

By Sam Coggin • October 16, 2025
Why Treating Furniture as Disposable Is Costing You More Than Money Walk into any office during a refurbishment and you'll see it: perfectly functional furniture heading for skips whilst new equivalents get ordered. We've normalised a throwaway culture that makes no business sense. Here's the thing—your office furniture strategy is actually a resource management strategy. And most businesses are getting it completely wrong. The 10-Year Desk That Could Last 30 Quality office furniture is engineered to last decades. That Herman Miller chair? Built for 30+ years of daily use. Solid wood desks? Practically indestructible with basic maintenance. Even well-made MDF furniture can serve for 15-20 years. Yet average office furniture replacement cycles run 5-7 years. Not because furniture fails—because offices move, rebrand, or someone decides it looks dated. We're throwing away assets with 70% of their useful life remaining. The Hidden Value in "Old" Office Furniture That dated reception desk isn't broken—it just needs refinishing. The conference table that doesn't match your new brand colours? It's still a conference table. Those filing cabinets from 2010? They still file things. The furniture reuse market is booming because smart businesses realised: Refurbishment costs 20-40% of replacement Quality vintage office furniture often exceeds modern standards "Dated" to you might be "perfect" for someone else Storage costs less than disposal plus replacement Why Circular Makes Commercial Sense The traditional model: Buy → Use (5 years) → Skip → Landfill fees → Buy again The circular model: Buy quality → Use → Refurbish → Use → Redeploy internally → Sell/donate → Someone else uses The second model extracts maximum value from every purchase. It's not environmental ideology—it's basic asset management. The Material Hierarchy of Sense When you must dispose of furniture, the value recovery hierarchy is straightforward: Metal furniture (filing cabinets, desk frames): Scrap value often covers removal costs Infinitely recyclable without quality loss Local scrap dealers will collect Wooden furniture: Refurbishment market is strong Solid wood retains value for decades Worst case: biomass fuel value Upholstered items: Reupholstery extends life by decades Foam and fabric recycling infrastructure growing Frame often outlasts covering by years Plastic furniture: Limited reuse market Recycling depends on plastic type Often the truly disposable option The Procurement Shift That Changes Everything Instead of asking "What's cheapest?" ask: What's the total life cost including disposal? Can we lease furniture and return it? Is there a take-back scheme? What's the refurbishment potential? Could we buy refurbished instead? Quality furniture that costs twice as much but lasts three times longer isn't expensive—it's a bargain. Your Practical Action Plan This month: Audit furniture due for replacement—does it really need replacing? Get refurbishment quotes alongside replacement quotes Find local furniture reuse charities—tax benefits plus free removal This quarter: Build furniture lifecycle into office move planning Create internal furniture redeployment system Partner with furniture refurbishment specialists This year: Shift procurement to quality + longevity over low initial cost Track furniture age and plan maintenance, not just replacement Calculate true total cost of ownership including disposal The Business Case Nobody's Making Every piece of furniture that gets reused or refurbished: Reduces procurement costs Eliminates disposal fees Maintains proven functionality Avoids delivery disruption Prevents waste compliance headaches This isn't about sustainability targets. It's about extracting maximum value from assets you've already paid for. The Bottom Line We've been conditioned to see office furniture as disposable. But it's not packaging—it's infrastructure. And successful businesses don't throw away functioning infrastructure. Your office furniture strategy shouldn't be about staying trendy. It should be about managing valuable assets sensibly. Next time someone suggests replacing functional furniture, ask: "What's actually wrong with what we have?" The answer might save you more than money. Want to discuss furniture lifecycle strategies? Share your biggest office furniture challenge in the comments.
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By Ida Gorecka • September 8, 2025
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