153 parts and, although maybe initially expensive, the lifetime of an item is extended. There’s a subtle difference between repair and refurbish and the two are often conducted together. Design for repair makes used products easy to fix using existing materials whereas design for refurbishment makes used products easy to renew with additional materials. Both are important approaches to improving the sustainability of products, and both were high priorities in our poll. There’s a surprisingly high environmental cost to thorough product maintenance. Karine Bouttier, product manager at Gerflor, explains: “When looking at the lifecycle analysis of a vinyl flooring, most of the carbon footprint comes from the raw materials (51 per cent) and maintenance (27 per cent) stages. Sustainable practices must first focus on these two key items.” Good maintenance guidance provided by suppliers can dramatically reduce environmental costs, particularly if it eliminates the necessity for chemical cleaning and reduces water use. Reuse is considered to be one of the medium loop, or life extension, strategies within the 9R Framework of the circular economy. It can represent extension of a product’s lifespan for either the same purpose, or an entirely different function, through reusing a product’s components to create a new product. Perhaps we can also find a way to be more accepting of product flaws that come from use. Liz Schneider, owner of Liz Schneider Interiors, says: “I believe the evolution of design and its relationship to the earth relies on us to approach interior design as an experience. Meaning, we create and execute more timeless interior concepts and rely on experience such as interactions, entertainment, meals and overall guest experience to evolve and change with time. I see furniture design being more authentic in the blemishes we often reject.” Sustainable end of life Lifecycle responsibility may be the answer to controlling, reducing and eliminating waste. Ton Van Middelkoop, business development manager at Bureau Veritas, says: “I believe all stakeholders in the industry have an obligation to ensure products are not only sustainably sourced and produced but should also be fully recyclable/reuseable [such] that a product manufacturer takes responsibility for the entire life cycle of a product rather than to leave it for our next generation to deal with the consequences.” While recycling is one of the longest loops (focused on creative material application) of the R strategies, requiring equipment, material and energy to create new value, it has become an imperative attribute for interior products. Manufacturers and buyers alike can no longer ignore end-oflife planning. “[We should] consider the ease of recycling or upcycling the product at the end of its life,” says Dimokritos Zervakis, project manager of Decon, who embraces “circular IN QUOTES “Operational sustainability is hard to see for passengers. Interior sustainability can be visible at every step onboard. Most sustainable products are innovative and tell a story, so let them speak and interact with passengers.” Greta Galminė, Head of Quality, Aros Marine “The commitment of clients and consumers is needed so that the efforts from the industry to enable customers to reach their respective sustainability goals lead to success.” Bruno Lehmann, Head of Product Management, Continental “[We need to] build up reference cases, learn from them and share experiences – like our new Swap2Zero project.” Mathieu Petiteau, Newbuilding and R&D Director, Ponant “By adopting SBTi’s guidelines, we ensure that our actions are based on robust scientific evidence, providing a strong foundation for achieving net-zero emissions.” Philip Korsholm Bjerg, Head of Cruise and Transport, Kvadrat “A commitment from owners to pay more for sustainability should be an additional line in the budget. There are so many options, but they all cost more.” Dafydd Watkins, Head of Global Cruise Sales, Panaz “[We need to] identify and compare commonly used materials in ship interiors today and find alternatives that are more sustainable.” Jason West, Managing Director, WDC Creative “Less greenwashing and profiteering from sustainability implementations and more doing things for the greater good and for the generations to come.” Willie Trager, Interior Design Manager, Holland America Group “We need to see all actors committed to embrace a total cost of ownership, assessing and disclosing the environmental impact of their practises and products.” Francesca Panatta, Interior Manager, Holland America Group “All our initiatives are to ensure we contribute to a circular economy, for example all our alpaca wool bedding is made from sustainable programmes. Our latest is to move all our wool products to an Ecological Outcome Verification standard [and] if we can increase this by 20 per cent then we could move our products to being carbon positive rather than carbon neutral.” Paul Whittey, Managing Director, Biosnooze “Raise passenger awareness of the fabrics used in the cabins and the public areas that they will use during their journey as it was produced using sustainable raw materials and production processes.” Alessia Bertani, Sales and Customer Service, Testori “More flexibility on existing norms is needed. For instance, IMO MED fire specification precludes the use of fabrics free of chemical fire retardant additives which achieve the European fire norm EN1021 but fall just short of IMO fire testing.” Carine Equeter, Vice President, Morbern Europe “Good signage design with long-lasting and 100 per cent recycled materials supports our client’s sustainability goals. And demand for these sustainable choices is increasing, rapidly.” Jan Metsola, CEO, Cainby FEATURE
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=