Posted Sep 30, 2022, 1:41 PM
It is a 100% French industrial bet. Since this spring, Canapé Tissu (a subsidiary of OPS, a furniture manufacturer based in Saint-Vallier, in Saône-et-Loire) has been marketing a range of sofas made in France and eco-designed. 98% of the materials are French and come from a radius of 350 kilometers around Saint-Vallier, such as wood or cardboard. This range is distributed online on the Canapé Tissu website and in a store which opened its doors last April in Châtenoy-le-Royal, near Chalon-sur-Saône.
The innovation of this sofa is based on the “Orbis de Vita” foam, designed entirely from used foam. “We work with Eco-Mobilier, which recovers foam from old mattresses, sofas or armchairs. They are then placed in tanks at high temperature. Then begins a process of depolymerization, which allows us to recreate the green polyol (or Runeva), necessary for the manufacture of new foams. “, explains Gilles Penet, the manager of Canapé Tissu. This recycling can be repeated ad infinitum.
A new recycling circuit
Apart from Canapé Tissu and Eco-Mobilier, 3 other companies worked on the design of Orbis de Vita. The chemists Dow Chemical and Orrion Chemicals are involved in the depolymerization while Icoa-France (The Vita Group) buys the green polyol to transform it into foam. Sofa Tissus then recovers this foam to equip its sofas assembled in-house.
“This is the first time that Vita’s Orbis has been used commercially. Before the creation of this recycling circuit, used foam was buried or incinerated. These industries had the know-how to recycle them but they lacked an outlet,” rejoices Gilles Penet. Every year, 30 million mattresses are thrown away in Europe.
370 plastic bottles per sofa
Apart from the foam, the sofa fabrics are made from plastic bottles. “For a single sofa, 370 bottles are recycled, which saves 70% of our water consumption and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 50%,” says the leader. It is also possible to configure the type of seat armrests, legs and furniture color to meet new consumer needs.
By November, Canapé Tissu will open two corners (sales areas in department stores) near Le Mans and Besançon. 40 employees work today for Canapé Tissu and OPS.
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